A/N: So you don't have to read the first parts of the Guardian Series to read this but it would be helpful when it comes to the original characters as well as parts of Naruto's past. However, they will be revisited so you don't have to read the first part in AO3 or FFnet to understand it. The pairings will remain the same but they won't have much of a part to play with this story, until the time skip. This will most likely focus in Naruto's childhood.
I don't think I have ever seen those kids before.
Naruto frowned and stopped swinging as she took in the sight of a little girl with vibrant red hair and another girl with auburn hair sat down on the sand pits. It was difficult to see from where she sat but she could make out that one girl had vibrant green eyes while another girl had hazel eyes. They looked like they could be related because they seemed to have similar facial features.
They must be sisters. Naruto jumped off from the swings and allowed herself to approach them. There seemed to be a red-haired man watching them with hawk-like eyes. He looked almost scary. There was long scar on his cheeks as if someone brought a kunai and slashed it against his face. He looked scary but his eyes didn't seem cold when it landed on her.
It wasn't warm either but there seemed to be a sense of wonder in his eyes.
She dragged her feet towards them, lips curled into a wide smile as a sense of hope stirred inside of her. The fact that the man didn't look at her like that, meant he would allow her to play with his kids. Only one other person hadn't given her cold eyes and that was Mikoto-obaachan. Sasuke's mother was always nice to her, always kind towards her.
If it wasn't for the fact that Sasuke wanted to spend time with Itachi then she would have gone over to his home to see her, with the excuse that she wanted to play with her best friend.
"Can I play with you?" Naruto kept the smile plastered on her face and waited for the two girls to deny her the chance of playing with them or for them to accept her plea of playing with them. Would they accept her? They seemed foreign because they didn't look anything like the children in the village. They probably didn't know that they shouldn't play with her.
The auburn-haired girl blinked and stared at her with wide eyes. With a closer inspection, Naruto realized that the auburn-haired girl was probably younger than her by a good two years. The red-haired girl looked closer to her age but unlike the younger girl, she seemed to look a little bit more colder. Her eyes weren't completely welcoming if you asked her.
After a couple of seconds, the auburn-haired girl offered her a serene smile. "Sure! Akane-oneechan and me are trying to make a house!"
A house? Naruto bobbed her head and jumped into the sandpits. Soft sand dug into the heels of her sandals, almost itched her heels but she ignored it. Instead, she plopped herself onto the ground and began to help the two sisters make a sand house. It was strange to make a house with two other girls because most of the girls in the Academy hated her.
Well Hinata-chan didn't hate her but that was because she beat up all those bullies that threatened to hurt her.
Hours passed and during that time, she learnt certain things about the two girls. Akane and Kiko were sisters but Akane was older than Kiko by a year, which made her younger than Naruto by one year. She learnt that the two sisters had an older brother, who was older than them by a lot. From her calculation, she guessed that their older brother was older than her by seven years.
The conversations between them was light and fun until it came to Kiko's question.
"My name?" Naruto asked, pointed to herself. Kiko and Akane nodded, looked at her with eager eyes, and the blonde scratched her neck. Did they really want to know her name? It had been a long time since another kid asked her about her name because everyone knew her name. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo."
They stared at her for the longest time, their eyes never blinked but she could sense that they were in shock by her words. Did they know her? Did the other children warn them about her? It seemed like it. It was fun while it lasted. She lowered her shoulders and turned her whole body away from them.
"You don't look like an Uzumaki," Akane said. Naruto blinked and turned her head around to look at the red-haired girl. There was a scowl on her face and she folded her arms against her chest while Kiko looked almost resigned by what her sister had to say. "Dad says that Uzumakis have red-hair and you have blond hair."
Kiko scowled and tugged on her sister's sleeves. "I don't have red hair and Dad says that I'm an Uzumaki!"
"That's because Mummy isn't an Uzumaki," Akane said with a scowl. "And you might be adopted! Ei-niisan and me have red hair!"
The younger girl slumped her shoulders and tears seemed to be welling up in her eyes. Even though she wasn't the cause for those tears, Naruto felt a sense of guilt that the little girl was going to cry but the guilt faded when Kiko stood up with determined eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows and watched as Kiko dashed to the scary man, who seemed to loom in the background.
"She always goes to Daddy like a big baby," Akane grumbled. Naruto turned to the younger girl and blinked when she saw that the younger female looked ready to be scolded. Was her Daddy really that scary? He looked scary. He looks even scarier than Fugaku-ojiisan. Her heart raced with fear as the scary man stormed his way to them.
From where Naruto stood, she could see that he had the same hazel eyes as Kiko and the same pretty, red hair as Akane. For a brief moment, she contemplated about running away from them but something stopped her. Maybe it was because this was going to be the first time that she saw a parent scolded their child in public.
The man stopped his tracks and yanked Akane by the scruff of her collar. "Young lady, did you tell your sister that she was adopted? How many times did your Mum and me tell you that you shouldn't be mean to your little sister?"
"I just said that she could be adopted," Akane grumbled. "And I only said that because Naruto says that she is an Uzumaki! I didn't believe her because you said Uzumakis in the Elemental Countries have red hair! Naruto has blond hair!"
Why do you have to bring me into the middle of this. She should walk away but it was difficult to walk away when the man focused his hazel eyes on her. Surprise lit up his hazel eyes and then it was replaced with a strange look. Then, that strange look was replaced with a blank look when his eyes stared at her whisker birthmarks.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto bobbed her head and the red-haired man lowered his daughter before kneeling down till they were at eyelevel. He reached his hand out to her as if he wanted to touch her, and the blonde eyed him with weariness. "Leave it to your parents to give their child such an unconventional name."
My parents? Hope stirred inside of her stomach and Naruto locked her eyes on the red-haired man. He looked almost amused as if her name brought a sense of humour to him. Her name wasn't funny but it felt nice to know that there was a man, who could look at her with amusement in his eyes. A man that didn't seem to hate her.
A man that could tell her about her parents.
"You know my parents?" The red-haired man bobbed his head and Naruto leaned on one side of her feet. He didn't offer her a smile but his children seemed shock if those wide eyes told her anything. Then again, she couldn't blame them. It was a surprise that the man did know who her parents were, when no one in the village seemed to know where she came from.
The red-haired man kept his expression blank and cleared his throat. "Yeah, your Mom is like a—"
"—Was," the man blinked and Naruto flushed a light shade of red. She shouldn't have corrected him but the Hokage always told her that she should always correct when a person was wrong in some way. Normally, she wouldn't correct him but he said that he knew her parents and well someone had to correct him. "My Mum and Dad died during the Kyuubi attack."
The man froze and horror washed over him like she had said the worst thing in the world.
I did something bad, didn't I? She looked down at her feet and felt heat creeping up her ears. It would have been better if she had kept her mouth shut, but how could she closed her mouth? Maybe she should go away. Yeah, it would be better for her to go away except the man looked at her like he was mourning for someone.
Like he was grieving for her loss and that was strange because not many people cared about her loss.
"Akane, Kiko," the man barked. The two girls straightened their backs and their smiles faded when the red-haired man focused his blank eyes on them. "I want you to take Naruto to your Mom and brother."
The red-haired girl blanched. "What? Why? I thought you were going to take Kiko and me to meet Aunt Kushina!"
Kenji shook his head and locked his eyes on her.
" Tell your Mom that I'm going to see the Hokage to find out what the fu…fudge is going on."
Naruto could only blink wolfishly at the fuming red-haired man but she didn't argue or protest when Kiko grabbed her hand. It was nice and warm, and well it was hard to argue when she knew that she was going to meet another adult. Although she hoped that Kiko and Akane's Mom was nice like Mikoto-obaachan because she doubt that she could handle two bad-tempered people.
(This consequence set off a chain of events that changed everything).
When can I retire?
Hiruzen exhaled and slumped against his seat before he darted his eyes to the photo of the man that was both his successor and predecessor. Seven years. That was how long it had been since Minato and his wife died as well as the same amount of time that his wife had been dead. It didn't feel like seven years. If anything, it felt like it had been shorter.
Not a day went by that his wife's face didn't come back to his mind.
But I still have a lot to do before I can join her side. His bone might be heavy and exhaustion was now an emotion that he constantly felt, but there was still so much for him to do. There was still a need for someone to watch over Naruto, to make sure that Danzo did not convince Naruto to learn under him, or came to close contact with the young girl.
Minato wanted that girl to have as much as normal life that she could get.
"Sorry but I don't have time to wait for your Hokage to give me an appointment! I just found out that my cousin is dead and I want answers! Answers that only your Hokage can give me! Now either you tell him that the head of the Uzumaki Clan wants to see him or I'll stand here all night until he sees me!"
Hiruzen jolted and jerked his head to the door. That voice sounded familiar to him. It had been a long time since he last heard that voice but Uzumaki Kenji was not a man that he could forget easily. But I thought he died like the other Uzumakis. Kushina had been devasted when Minato delivered the news to her.
It had been a horrible day in history but that was the result of war.
The yells grew louder and Hiruzen exhaled before pushing himself off of the chair. His bones ached, a constant reminder that he was no longer the same youthful man. Watching Konohamaru grow and Naruto getting into trouble just reminds me that I'm growing old. In another ten years, Naruto would be seventeen.
Just the right time for him to give this old hat to her and enjoy his retirement in peace.
The cries grew louder and Hiruzen opened the door of his office. The cries died down and Hiruzen's eyebrows twitched when he saw a red-haired man dropped his shinobi down to the ground. His assistant cleared his throat, shot him a look of relief before darted his eyes to the fuming red-haired man standing before him.
"After all of these years and you still haven't learnt your grandfather's lesson…Kenji," Hiruzen commented. Despite the years that passed, Kenji still looked like he could pass in his early 20s instead of being a man in his late hazel eyes didn't dare flinch but there was a tightness in the man's jaw. "I'm surprised that you are alive."
"You can thank the Second Uzushiokage and Ren-niisan for keeping us alive," Kenji said with a calm but tense tone. The assistant blinked and scrambled away from them while Kenji folded his arms against his chest. There were very little emotions in his eyes but Hiruzen knew that the man was growing with rage.
From the corner of his eyes, Hiruzen saw a couple of the assistants creeping closer to each other. Their eyes drank in the sight with curiosity, no doubt that they had very little memory of the Uzumaki clan. The only people, who had some idea of the Uzumaki clan, were now the people who had been close to Kushina and Minato.
Not many people could recall the importance of the Uzumaki clan and with how much pride Naruto could get, it was better for Naruto not to know about how important her last name could be. Besides, it would have brought her more pain and curiosity. There had been so many times when Naruto demanded to know about her parents.
For her own safety, it had been better to keep her in the dark.
"And is your grandfather alive as well?" he questioned, gesturing for the man to go into the office. The less people that could witness the man's emotional rage, the better and if Danzo caught word about Kenji's appearance then there was no telling what the man would do. There was no telling whether his rival would do to poison the man against him.
Kenji stopped in his tracks and kept his expression completely blank. "The Second Uzushiokage and my brother as well as hundreds and hundreds of my clans member died to give us a chance of a new life."
"A new life?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "If you wanted a new life then you could have come here to settle down."
The red-haired man eyed him for the longest time, his hazel eyes looked at him with disbelief before he offered him a grunt. Even though it couldn't be seen, he could hear the stream erupted from his ears and for a brief moment, Hiruzen felt a sense of loss on how to deal with the young man that used to come and visit Kushina.
The man grunted and walked passed him. "Settling down in Konoha was never an option for me."
Then where did you settled and why haven't you seen Kushina when she was alive? In the days of his retirement, he would occasionally visit Kushina and not a day went by did that young woman didn't remember her roots. She would talk about her former home whenever she had a chance and made claims about teaching her children about their heritage.
He kept his expression completely blank and allowed himself to sink back into his seat. Years ago, he would probe and twist the man into explaining about what was wrong with settling down in their village but he had no desire anymore. Unless he found a suitable candidate, he was only a figurehead until Uzumaki Naruto became eighteen.
"You should have come to Konoha earlier," Hiruzen declared, clasped his hands together. "Your cousin and Minato got married during the last year of the war. They kept it private with only few people invited to the wedding but I know Kushina wished that she had her family when she got married."
Kenji looked away. "She knows Akira-obaasama would never approve of the wedding and that our supposed deaths are the only reasons that she could marry that man instead of the man that Grandfather chose for her."
"I presume Asa is alive then," Hiruzen said idlily and Kenji wordlessly nodded. He seemed to have his emotions under control but Hiruzen could see those hands twitching with irritation. He could guess what brought him here but it was better to make some small talk, wait for the man to either calm down or to explode like he used to do whenever he had been alone.
Asa had been always the more calm one. It was why he presumed that the Second Uzushiokage arranged the marriage between Kushina and Kenji's younger brother but Kushina had been pushing for the old man to break the engagement. The young woman loved Minato and nothing in the world was going to stop her from marrying him.
"My younger brother is alive but his wife died recently," Kenji explained quietly. "He has a daughter and a young son but the death of his wife is still fresh on his memory."
To lose your partner is painful. He lost his wife when his children were fully grown but Asa's children must still need their mother. They would understand death but it was painful. An ache that would never really fade even if you busied yourself with work as well as anything else that could help you not think about the past.
"I am sorry for his loss," Hiruzen finally said.
Kenji shook his head and walked towards the window. "Asa will mourn but he has our clan to help raise his children. He has my wife and me to help him navigate through this but…there is a bigger victim here."
He didn't allow any emotions to come out of his eyes even though hazel eyes leaked with fury and accusation. If the man was here, then it would be a matter of time before he found out about Naruto. Little Naruto, who carried a striking resemblance to her mother despite having her father's colouring. However, she carried more of her father's traits then her mother even if she didn't want to show it.
The rare times he visited Keisuke, the woman would sing praises about her grandchild and tell him that Naruto was going to be a genius like her father.
"How did you find out about Naruto and Kushina?" he asked, his voice steadied despite the guilt that threatened to leak out. Kenji eyed him for the longest time and reached his hand against the window frame. He watched as the man trembled with what could only be grief but the man did not allow himself to cry.
In that sense, the Second Uzushiokage had done an amazing job of destroying the man's emotions.
"Kumiko is exhausted from the travel and Eisuke wanted to see the village before we go to the house that my grandfather gifted Kushina," Kenji explained with a quiet and weary tone. "With how things have been with my…stubborn son, I thought it would be okay for him to have a look around while I take my youngest two to the playground."
Ah, that is when you saw Naruto. There was no need to vocalize it because the hesitance in his tone told him everything. He kept his expression blank, lit up his pipe and just observed the man. It didn't take long for the man to tremble but still no tears came out of his eyes. Nothing else gave away about the man's emotional state.
"She came right up to them like a nervous, little fox," Kenji shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. "And I couldn't help but think that she acted more like her father in that moment then Kushina. Kushina wouldn't have been that nervous and to see her daughter behave like that…it irritates me."
Hiruzen exhaled and shook his head. "You are the first person to describe Naruto as being shy. Normally, that girl has more confidence then a grown man."
There was no twitch in the man's lips and only silence greeted him. This was small talk but it was going to be a matter of time before the man would question him about his actions. A matter of time before the whole thing would go to hell. If I have known that he was alive then I would have been more careful with Naruto. But there had been no choice at the time.
People had already began to question things when Namikaze Keisuke demanded to raise Naruto. He allowed it at the time with the hopes that the people would see that the woman, who should have been in the most pain, was doing her part to move on. However, things changed. Someone leaked the truth about Naruto's situation and it had been rather convenient that none of his own ANBU hadn't found the murderer.
He wanted to blame Danzo but without any proof, he could not strip the man of his duties.
"She told me that Kushina died in the Kyuubi attack," he whispered. "And I know from helping Akira-obaasama and the Second Uzushiokage, that the seal had been iron-proof. I know Kushina died during childbirth but how could you people fuck up so badly when it came to the seal? Who was in chargeof keeping that seal in check?"
Hiruzen grimaced. "It is a very complicated situation, Kenji."
"It better be complicated, Hokage-sama because my grandfather entrusted his favorite grandchild to you," Kenji hissed. Hiruzen grimaced and felt the headache from earlier grow even stronger at that reminder. "I came to Konoha because I had the courage to see Kushina and if I find out that her child or Kushina had not been given the respect that they deserved, then you know what it means for the contract."
He grimaced. The contract. The written contract that he had made when the second Uzushiokage had been alive, was not something that he could take lightly. It was a contract that had never made much sense until he witnessed the consequence with Naruto. A contract that was going to put Konoha in a lot of trouble.
Hiruzen knew that he should explain it but he also needed to see through the contract once again, if there was any loopholes that could be dealt with.
"Kenji, it must have been a very long day for you," he reminded him. "And perhaps it would be better for you to spend some time with Naruto before we discuss on the events that took place, which resulted in your cousin and her husband's death."
Hazel eyes narrowed and Kenji was silent as if he was deeply contemplating about whether or not to take him up with his offer. Would the man be as stubborn as his grandfather? Or would he kneel and allow himself to cool down before they begin the inevitable row? It was a long story either way and Hiruzen knew from memory, that Kenji had always been slightly temperamental.
"We will discuss it tomorrow," Kenji agreed. "And you can tell whoever has been taking care of Naruto, that she'll be staying with me and my wife until further notice."
Hiruzen kept quiet and tapped his finger against the wooden table. This would be a good time to inform the man about Naruto's living situation but Kenji was a different man from before. The old Kenji would have known that it wasn't automatic that a clan's child would have a guardian, would have known that Naruto would be alone.
He could tell him the truth but it would put Konoha in a feeble balance.
'You will take care of her, won't you? If anything happens to K-Keisuke then you will take care of her.'
Violet eyes flashed before him and Hiruzen lowered his hat.
"There hasn't been anyone that has officially taken care of her," he admitted. "Uchiha Mikoto has been taking care of Naruto as much as her position would allow her but it is a rather…recent thing that started due to Naruto's friendship with her son."
Kenji's face darkened and Hiruzen longed to rub the sides of his head. It should have been kept quiet but Naruto was known for spilling things when it suited her. The meaningless things would come out of her mouth, but the important things were always kept zipped up. Things like her teacher being biased to her was one example, while another example would be the fact that she would spill so easily about her dreams.
Besides, the girl would question everything.
"You have a lot of explaining to do," Kenji declared, looking at him with eyes burning with rage. "You are going to tell me why there has been no one, who has been officially appointed to take care of her because I doubt Keisuke would have abandoned her only grandchild."
Keisuke loved Naruto and despite the fact that her friends turned against her, Keisuke refused to abandon that child.
There was no need for him to declare those words to him. Instead, Hiruzen closed his eyes and darted it towards the photo of his successor before letting out an exhale. There were only so many things that could be said but he had work to do: a long-forgotten contract needed to be seen, a meeting had to be conducted on how to explain themselves, and he needed to find someone to throw under the bus.
Uzumaki Kenji was a man who had been ruthless in battle and there was no telling what he would demand once he knew the full-extent of what Naruto endured.
"Everything will be explained tomorrow."
Hopefully by then, he would have figured out how to get the village out of this hole that they dug themselves into.
A/N: So please do tell me of your thoughts about this chapter.