Chapter 12 - I'm home.

Pairing: Naruto x Uchiha Mikoto.

THIS WILL NOT BE A HAREM

A/N: Honestly, no idea what note to make when I'm currently writing this. I decided to start on this chapter after releasing the previous one, y'know, to get a headstart for once. In case my motivation decided to disappear again.

I think it's kind of hilarious, when I wrote the previous Author Notes in the last chapter, I thanked you guys for 700+ favorites and 1000 follows, only to realize afterward that I had gotten a hundred more of both. Thank you guys, you have no idea how much this means to me. I'll try to be better this time around and actually update...

Warning: The main character's age has been adjusted.

Naruto's Family Estate.

"When Oji-san said that he would have Tenzo create a couple more rooms, this wasn't exactly what I had expected…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he stood at the start of his property, the sun had just started to show it's light over the edge of the village, lighting up the faces of the previous Hokage.

He had just arrived with a backpack filled with scrolls containing everything he owned from his old apartment and was looking at the work Tenzo had done.

What had usually just been a quite large house with enough space to house a big family, was now an even bigger building, formed into an 'L' shape. To say that Tenzo had done an amazing job, would be a huge understatement.

And as if he was speaking of the devil, the masked man landed right beside him. "I hope the house is to your liking, Naruto-san. I made sure to add two extra bedrooms, along with an extra bathroom. The basement was also expanded, so there would be more space for when the remaining Uchiha moves in with you."

The blond couldn't fight the smile that crept onto his face as he turned around to face his ANBU colleague, and offered him a hand, "It looks amazing, thank you so much for this. Is it all fully operational already?"

Tenzo chuckled and accepted the hand and shook it as he looked up at the larger building, "Hai, the entire building is fully functional with heat, water, and electricity. Hiruzen-sama pulled a lot of strings to make this work, I would share my gratitude with him as well."

"Don't worry, I will, but first thing first, I need to get my stuff unpacked and then a word with Akari and Karin before I go pick up Mikoto-basan and Sasuke at the hospital," Naruto informed the wood-style user that promptly nodded, and used the shunshin to leave the area altogether.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto exhaled slowly as he made his way up to the front door. His parents' house, or well, it was his house now. Had always been a thorn in his side. He loved this place, but it made him relive a time where he was happy. He missed his family, he missed what they had and what they could have been when Menma was about to be born.

It wasn't time for him to dwell on the past anymore, on the contrary, he was needed in the present. The world around him was seemingly withering, and his precious people needed him. And because of that, he deemed that enough was enough. No more running, no more hiding from who he was, it was time to come back to his senses.

Taking another deep breath, he looked up at the front door and spoke quietly to himself, "I'm home." As he opened the door, he was met by the scent of freshly cooked breakfast. It almost made him run into the kitchen, due to the sense of deja vu. The last time he had entered this room and smelled breakfast, was when he been little.

Before he could even manage to get his sandals off in the hallway, his eyes were met by the ones of a very solemn looking Akari. Naruto had his theories on what would happen next, it would either be a scolding of a lifetime, or perhaps a flying frying pan to the face. Yet, what actually happened shocked him to his very core.

Akari slowly walked up to meet him, her arms stretched out just before she reached him, and engulfed him in a soft warm hug. This, he didn't expect. The emotions rising within his gut were threatening to spill out from his eyes, but he kept it in. Raising his own arms hesitantly, he returned the hug. Still unsure of why he deserved it, but the sensation and feeling of being hugged were welcomed with deep deep gratitude.

"You poor thing…" The older woman whispered softly as she ran a hand up and down his back. She hadn't expected to see him so soon after everything that had happened to him.

The Hokage had been kind enough to update her about where he had disappeared off to when he didn't come home when they had gotten to Konoha. It broke her heart knowing that the kind-hearted boy that had saved her and her daughter, had just lost his best friend and almost lost his mind in the aftermath. Not to mention the slaughtering of his surrogate family. The Uchiha had been here when they arrived, now they were gone…

Naruto blinked slowly and gave a short sniffle as he looked over her shoulder with half-lidded eyes, seemingly staring into nothingness. "I'm sorry for worrying you, it has been… a pair of troubling days."

"Don't you dare apologize! I'm just glad you are here, and that you are home. Safe and sound." Akari interrupted him, giving him a gentle shake to get his focus on her as she spoke to him, her eyes glazed over with worry and sympathy for the young boy that had been their savior in the darkest time.

"ANIKI!" The loud screech came from the end of the hallway, and the excited tone of Karin's voice actually made Naruto laugh a little as he separated from Akari. Crouching down, he waved at the girl and was immediately met with a hug around the neck.

"Hey there, have you been behaving?" Naruto asked with a teasing undertone as he returned the girl's hug, yet his words caused a pout to form on her lips as she gave a slight glare at him.

Giving a slight huff, Karin turned her head away from the older Uzumaki, "Of course I have! But you, Aniki, haven't." She stated, as a matter of fact, causing Naruto to blink at her with confusion.

"Oh? So I haven't been behaving? And what could that possibly mean?" He asked with a tilt of his head, his spiky blond bangs hanging from his head as Karin pointed an accusing finger at him, a confident smirk on her face.

The smirk only seemed to grow as she spoke, "You didn't come home! It was your turn to do the dishes last night! And I had to do them for you! Which means you owe me."

Naruto couldn't help but stare blankly at her as he tried to fight the urge to tickle her into an early grave. "I guess I'll have to give you some payback then." He said in an alarming, and threatening tone, which Karin didn't seem to pick up on before he had captured her with one arm and started tickling her stomach with his free hand.

Akari just watched this with a sad smile on her face, 'You lost so much, yet you don't even dare show it to her. Acting like everything is alright, shielding her from your pain. You truly have a kind heart…' She was brought out of her thoughts though when a heavily panting Karin that had broken free from Naruto's hold had raced behind her legs, seeking cover from the, in her opinion, evil blond.

"Karin-chan, why don't you go set the table? I have to speak with Naruto-kun about something important, and then we shall have breakfast." Akari spoke kindly to her daughter, and despite the feeling of wanting to protest against being the one to set the table, again, she obeyed and ran back into the kitchen, leaving Naruto and Akari back in the hallway again.

Naruto stood back up from his crouched position and adjusted his cloak, before letting out a deep sigh, "I have something I need to talk with you as well. Two people, I consider family survived the tragedy and will have to live here. Hence why the ANBU named Tenzo made so many adjustments this morning. I hope you don't mind because I won't turn my back on the people I care about."

Akari just gave a kind smile as she placed a comforting hand on his arm, "That was what I was going to ask about. And, we don't mind one bit. You wouldn't be you without helping the people you consider family. I can already see that now, we may not be super close, but that trait in you is shining brighter than the sun. I'll be happy to do what I can to help them as well."

Naruto nodded gratefully and placed a hand on top of hers, "Thank you for understanding, the people in question is the woman I talked about, Mikoto-basan and her son Sasuke. They were the only ones I managed to get to in time…" The solemn look crashed onto his face again after that, the feeling of failing so many kept crashing down on him every time he dared think about it.

Akari grabbed his hands and squeezed them tightly, and gave him a motherly kiss to the back of his left hand, which shocked him to his very core. "You saved their lives, meaningful lives, just like you saved ours. You didn't fail the rest of them, you did what you could. You need to accept that. The lives you save, mean something. Your value isn't calculated in the number of people you got to, but in the effort you made. And you, Naruto Uzumaki, put more effort in than most."

Completely dumbstruck by the words she spoke, Naruto just narrowed his eyes and nodded. He never understood why people seemed to be able to read him like an open book. Was it the way he said things or acted? Or was it mere logic that this was what he would be upset about? He didn't know, and he disliked what he didn't understand. He appreciated her words, he truly did, he just felt hopeless.

Akari after a brief moment of silence gave his hands a last squeeze before letting go, grabbing onto his cloak, she carefully unclasped it at the front and pulled it off his shoulder. "Come and have some breakfast before you leave again, you need your strength. You look like someone that hasn't eaten properly in days."

Too exhausted and hungry to fight her, Naruto just nodded and walked with her into the kitchen. It was a lot to take in. Everything that had happened, and being back here. After everything that had happened and was happening, he felt like he needed a good long shower and a nap.

He was seated at the end of a dining table that he remembered being smaller, only to realize Tenzo must have replaced the old one with this one to gain more space for when Mikoto and Sasuke would eat with them. He was eventually brought out of his thoughts when he was presented a plate with warm breakfast, consisting of bowl of rice and a grilled fish.

"I know it's not the most fancy breakfast out there, but I hope it'll suffice." Akari smiled and took a seat to his left, while Karin sat right beside her mother further down the table.

Naruto's mouth twitched into a thankful smile, "It's perfect, thank you. It looks very delicious." He commented, making the older woman smile at his praise as she watched him eat his breakfast with glee. It had been the first meal he had eaten in so long, so she wasn't super surprised when the portion had been down his stomach after a few minutes.

Breakfast had been mostly quiet, with the occasional small talk. Naruto, despite his lack of appetite, somehow managed to eat two portions worth of breakfast. Mostly due to the insisting Akari watching him, making sure he ate, but he wouldn't deny that he needed the energy he would get from the meal.

Around half an hour later he was now seen standing out in front of the hospital, his cloak was once again swung over his shoulders, covering his form as he leaned against a lamppost while waiting. The receptionist said that the Uchiha duo would be released and allowed to leave in around ten minutes, so all that was left to do was wait. And he hated waiting.

The village was sad this morning. He could tell from the talk going around, along with the huge pile of flower bouquets stabled in front of the Uchiha compound. It was the talk of the town, and everyone was mourning the loss of the clan while cursing the traitor that had turned against his family.

It pissed Naruto off. No one knew the truth, they just blindly assumed they knew everything, not that he had been much different a few hours ago. Sighing deeply, Naruto looked up at the clouds and settled more into his cloak. The clouds were darkening above him, and he was questioning whether or not it was going to rain. There wasn't much else to pay attention to at the moment, so his eyes just followed the dark clouds racing over the sky.

"Naruto-kun? You're here early. I thought we'd meet at your apartment, we were just about to be on our way there." The soft tone of one of his most precious persons met his ears, and despite how much he hated the sad tone within, he was just happy that she was still here and still alive. The one thing he managed to do. Saving both her and Sasuke's life.

Managing to form a smile on his lips, Naruto walked over and greeted the raven-haired woman with a caring hug, that she quickly returned. "No reason to go to that empty place, and I thought you may want some company… The village is a bit too noisy this morning."

Settling into the warmth of the blond's body, Mikoto rested her cheek up against his chest as she smiled at the sweet thought, "Thank you, it would have been rather bothersome to manage to get home to all the memories alone, not to mention all the staring…And, what do you mean with that empty place? Did you move out during the night?" The confusion was all too clear in her voice.

Running the tips of his fingers down through her soft, smooth, raven hair, Naruto gave her a quick squeeze before separating, "Don't mention it at all, I'm here for you two when you need me, and yes I moved back home. And that's what I wanted to talk with you two about. Where's Sasuke?"

Mikoto folded her arms and sighed as she nodded her head back toward the hospital, "Still sleeping, I thought that I'd talk with you myself so that he could rest. A nurse is watching over him, along with some ANBU I'd suppose?"

Naruto saw no reason to lie, so he just nodded to confirm her suspicion, "Well, you know about how the Uchiha Clan Compound is all destroyed and stuff… and even if it wasn't, I'm sure that with the memories of that night, it wouldn't be healthy for either you or Sasuke to go back to living there anytime soon, right?"

Slowly nodding, Mikoto's eyes widened as she pieced together what he was probably going to say, but stayed quiet, and let him finish.

"And also, the both of you are family to me. In this entire village, there is nobody else that I consider more important, so what I'm trying to say is, I would like the two of you to move into my old family estate. It's been renovated and expanded, so that it won't feel cramped, and you will even be able to become friends with Akari."

"Are you sure about that Naruto? I wouldn't want to intrude-"

A resolute look flashed in his eyes before he interrupted. "No. It's not intruding. Like I said, you are both family, and I care about you both way too much for me to not want to have you two living with me. I'm not going to take a no for an answer, Mikoto-basan. I'll continue to try and persuade you, whether from my end, or through Sasuke, but I won't give up." Naruto finished with a foxy grin.

Hiruzen was busy doing the remaining paperwork on his desk when he heard the audible knock on his door, raising his eyes from the papers he was signing, he lowered his pipe and spoke loudly, "Enter." And watched with a smile as his blond grandson entered the room, his eyes holding an amount of determination he hadn't seen in such a long time.

The blond in question gave a quick nod of his head, a small quiet greeting as he stepped in and closed the door behind him, "I apologize for disturbing the middle of your work." Naruto apologized quietly, his tone signaling he wasn't entirely sure he should have come here, unsure of whether or not he had a good enough reason to request what he was going to ask for.

"It's quite alright, the distraction is more than welcomed actually. It is rather boring to sit day in and day out signing the same signature on similar pieces of paper. So what can I do for you? Are Mikoto-san and Sasuke-kun settled in within your estate?" Hiruzen sighed, making the blond smile a bit with a half chuckle escaping his lips. He didn't doubt that one bit at all.

At the second part of his surrogate grandfather's sentence, Naruto sighed a bit and leaned against the door with a hand brushing through his smooth golden locks of spiky hair, "I had to do some convincing, but I used the stubbornness I've learned from you, and managed to convince them to come with me in the end. I also asked Inu to help the Uchiha move in while I was on my way." There was without a doubt a lot of relief in Naruto's sentence, he had been happy to convince them and take them with him.

Hiruzen let out a dry chuckle at the comment regarding being stubborn, because if he recalled correctly… which he did most of the time… then it was typically the blond teen in front of him that was usually being stubborn. And aside from his mother Kushina, he was probably the most stubborn person that he knew. "That's good to hear, and a relief. Please take a seat, I sense more on your heart than merely informing me of the latest gossip. How are you holding up? I know you don't like to show it openly."

Naruto took Hiruzen's offer and sat down in one of the two chairs placed in front of the man's desk, with a deep, long and tired sigh, Naruto lowered his head and stared blankly at the carpet beneath him, "I'm better then what I thought I'd be, but I've been distracting myself with a lot of other stuff too. I don't think that it has truly hit me yet, what has happened, I mean. I guess I'm still in a bit of denial, hoping that it's some nightmare that I'll soon wake up from. But I know that I won't. That it's just reality showing how much of a bitch it is."

"Focusing your energy elsewhere is fine, but you need to let yourself properly grieve. The Uchiha were your friends, your family, bottling it all up inside won't end well. And I won't allow you, as my surrogate grandson, to go through all that once again. So please listen to an old fool, and let yourself grieve with the rest of us at their funeral. It isn't shameful to cry when people you care about die, let alone with what happened with Itachi..." Hiruzen may have been blunt in his words, but it hit right where it should.

The first few times he had lost people, he had always thought it was his duty as the fourth's son to cope with it, and show strength. Clenching his fist tightly, Naruto grit his teeth and raised his vision up to meet Hiruzen's, "That's why… that's why I need your help. I'm tired of feeling hopeless and helpless, this constant pain in my gut telling me I could be better. What… what can I do?"

Hiruzen raised himself from his desk and turned around, staring out over the village for a while, wondering, leaving the blond to stare at his back in silence. As he took a mouthful of smoke from his pipe, allowing it to escape from the corner of his mouth, he sighed deeply, "Meet me at the training ground located at the back of the Sarutobi compound in half an hour, I'm going to teach you something that my father once taught me many years ago. It helped me when I had lost Tobirama-sensei and had felt like being the next Hokage would end up leading to the village's demise."

Naruto had to blink at those words, never in his life would he have ever thought that the man before him would actually have had such thoughts, "Are you serious?"

Hiruzen gave a quick chuckle as he gazed up toward the stone faces from the corner of his eyes, his gaze resting on the sculpture of his former sensei as he spoke, "Quite serious. Tobirama-sensei's footsteps were quite difficult to follow in."

As Naruto mentally browsed through his memories of what he had learned about the second Hokage, he couldn't help but shrug, "Tobirama-sama was probably quite the guy, he's already a legend in the history books. I mean, he did quite a lot of our village. Though the way he seemed to treat the Uchiha, didn't sit well with me."

"You've got to remember that Tobirama-sensei fought alongside Hashirama-sensei in the war between Senju and Uchiha. They lost all their brothers beside each other in the bloodshed." Hiruzen reasoned despite not agreeing with some of the things there had been said about some Uchiha back in the day, but despite Tobirama's past experiences, one Kagami Uchiha had also been trained by the late Hokage.

Nauto felt a frown creeping onto his face, his fist clenching around his cloak's fabric as he spoke out, "I'm tired of all the useless bloodshed, the unnecessary death. And all for what, greed? And why? It's all meaningless in the end. What good is a fortune, when you're losing yourself in the process of getting to it…"

Hiruzen puffed his pipe a few times before sitting down in his chair again, "The bloodshed of the Shinobi world has been going on since the era of the Shinobi begun. We may be in a time of peace, but people still die. I truly wish that there is some way that we can all one day understand each other, and end the bloodshed. However, the simple reality of the world is that there will always be people blinded by greed, hate, and anger. Emotion and desire, make people unpredictable."

Naruto let go of his hold in his cloak, and looked up with a sigh, "Do you ever feel like the system is just meaningless? The hidden villages offer protection by the means of our military forces. Yet, we never get anywhere. No matter the mission, no matter the quantity, the bloodshed is the same as it always has been."

The Hokage looked at this young boy with his thought running like a wild horse, despite his earlier actions and accidents, this boy was far too mature for his age. Which was partially his fault, but it was still horrifying. "If we want to remove the problem, we have to grab the weeds by the roots and pull them out so they won't spread. We just don't have the resources or the manpower, especially now, after the recent events. Perhaps when we regain our strength, we can make a more focused effort into ridding the world of the toxicity that is spreading within it."

The blond stood up from his seated location and adjusted his cloak without a word, before eventually deciding to speak, "Well then I guess we better get to it, every minute wasted is a minute that could be used doing something useful."

"Then what are you waiting for? Meet me at the Sarutobi compound, and I'll be waiting there with the items required." Hiruzen finished, and Naruto just nodded before shunshining out of the Hokage's office, leaving Hiruzen to sit back alone.

"Your son is truly something else."

Not even half an hour later, Naruto landed at the front of the Sarutobi compound. He was a bit early, but time wasted was time that he wouldn't get back again. Making his way throughout the compound, he noticed it look more empty than normal. He guessed it was because the majority of the clan were Shinobi, and were out helping cleaning up in the village and to keep the order after last night's disaster.

Thinking back to the disaster, Naruto's mind wandered to Itachi. It pained his heart immensely, his best friend, his brother, had done the ultimate sacrifice.

He had taken everything upon himself, shouldering the pain and hatred of his clan, saving the lives of thousands. And for what? The hatred of the village was placed on his shoulders. News of the event was already spreading like a dry forest fire and curses to his names echoed in each empty alley near the streets.

Would Itachi ever be free again? Despite how much he longed for a happy ending, where Itachi would be back to reunite the remains of his family, he couldn't be delusional. This world was cruel and grey. Nothing ever ended happily, at least not for him. Sure, he could maybe bitch and moan about it for the rest of his life, or he could try and do something about it... Hence why he was here. He had chosen the latter.

Raising his head from the road that he had been walking on, Naruto blinked at the sight of Hiruzen standing in a training outfit that he hadn't seen since he had gotten a few lessons from the man when the blond was a wee lad. It managed to bring out a smile to his face as it was a sight for sore eyes; reminding him of a time where things were simpler.

"You're here early, eager to get your ass whooped?" Hiruzen greeted as he pulled a large pouch out from behind a tree, dropping it in the middle of the training ground as the blond ANBU entered the area.

Giving a slight nod of confirmation, Naruto blinked as he stared at the pouch, "I came to get your help for a reason. You're the only person in the village who can beat me as badly as that masked man, so I'd rather not waste any time by pulling a Kakashi. I've already lost too much…"

So, Naruto has reassured the Uzumaki, the Uchiha will be moving in, and he is also ready to have his ass whooped. Wedge your bets for how badly hes going to be beaten. On a scale of 1, where he needs the kyuubi to be normal, to 10, where he also needs a hospital.

Questions of the day:

1: How do you think Karin and Sasuke are going to interact? How explosive can an Uzumaki and an Uchiha truly be? Will the house survive?

2: What do you think Hiruzen is going to teach Naruto? Will Naruto Survive it?

3: How do you think Kakashi is doing? When is he ever going to show up? Stupid author, not bringing in best boi Kaka-sensei.