For Naruto Uzumaki, waking up in a dingy, decrepit apartment was just one of those things he had gotten used to. Ever since he was young, he had been alone. Forced to fend for himself. For a time that meant stealing the food he could and living like an animal until the Third Hokage had gotten wind of his living situation.
This apartment was the outcome of that chance encounter. It had become a home, or, at least, as much as a two bedroom, third-rate abode could be. Still, he had made memories in this place. Cards with his shadow clones, reading some of Jiraiya's works that he had nicked while the old man wasn't looking, and being able to be as much of a slob as any teenage boy wanted to be were all some of the most enjoyable things he could do.
But he wouldn't lie, it was lonely.
The blonde ninja rolled over in his bed, trying to ignore the ray of sunlight that lanced through the dirty window into his eyes. He glanced to the fridge, taking a mental note that he would need to stock up on food again. He'd long since learned the perils of consuming expired foodstuffs since he had chugged a carton of expired milk.
Was that his fault? No one had bothered to teach him such basic things. The Third Hokage was busy, he had a lot he needed to do, but, most of all, he was old. He didn't have the youth to raise a child on his own, not anymore.
"Children…" he mumbled to himself, rolling over onto his back.
What was it like, he wondered, to have children? Or, better yet, to have parents? There had never been anyone to greet him, no one to chastise his bad behavior or to give him that sort of parental advice. The closest he had was the Third, and he was gone now. Wiped out long, long before Pain flattened the village.
The closest he had ever gotten to family was Shion. Why was it now, nearly a year later, that he thought of her?
"Naruto! Naruto!" a shrill voice called out, banging on the door repeatedly. "We need to report to Lady Tsunade! She says it's urgent!"
"Granny?" he asked, finally getting out of bed.
By the time he had gotten his orange jumpsuit on, Sakura was waiting outside. The pink-haired kunoichi tapped her foot irritatedly, no doubt tired of waiting for her lazy-bones teammate.
"Hey there Sakura," the young boy rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "You kinda caught me sleeping there."
He tried to play it off with a chuckle, but the angry glance she sent him told him she was unamused. Feeling a small trickle of sweat roll down his forehead, he coughed into his fist and tried to change the subject.
"Is everything alright?"
Sakura huffed. "I don't know. Lady Tsunade was nearly manic when she called me in. She told me that you had to get there at once. There was also a strange man there, a guy in clothing that wasn't from around here."
Now that was interesting. Was it a new mission? He could use the excitement. There was only so much training one could do before the cabin fever set in. Naruto affixed a bold smile on his face and cracked his neck.
"Then what're waiting for you? You know how cranky Grandma Tsunade gets!" with that cheeky quip, the two ninja leapt from the balcony and quickly began making their way through the village.
It always had impressed him how fast they had rebuilt. Perhaps it was the Will of Fire at work, or the simple need to get something up and running in case more enemies came calling, but they had done a fine job. Although not everything was the exact same. As the duo paused on the roof of a building, the blonde ninja took a moment to survey the collapsed remains of a library.
It had taken a scrape compared to the main target of Pain's assault, and even then a massive amount of brick and wood had sloughed off one of its sides. A part of him wanted to go down there and help the construction workers, but Grandma Tsunade would have his head if she caught him fooling around.
"C'mon," Sakura urged before leaping away again.
The Hokage's office was a familiar place to Naruto by now. Whether it was being scolded by Lord Third or being berated by Grandma Tsunade, that room had never been his favorite place in the village. Now though, it seemed to radiate an aura of pure malice and unease. As if he were inviting disaster by walking through the door.
"U-Uh, S-Sakura, are you sure she was asking for me? She didn't mean, like, Kakashi-sensei or anything right?" he tried to laugh it off like a joke, but it came out weak and forced.
"Gah, quit being such a baby and go!" his teammate wrapped him in a headlock and dragged him forward. In spite of his growing protests, she slogged onward before finally throwing open the door.
Instantly, the young boy felt that his sixth sense for trouble had been right. The foreign visitor stood off to the side, his pacing interrupted by their presence. Within the room were only two others, Lady Tsunade and, surprisingly, Naruto's teacher: Kakashi Hatake.
The boy gulped nervously as he felt waves of conflicting emotion radiate from them. The look on Tsunade's face could have wilted flowers, a mixture of passive amusement, immeasurable disappointment, and sheer frustration the likes of which he had never seen. Not even when he let slip her real age in front of the jonin.
Almost a yin to her yang, Kakashi looked to be on the verge of tipping over. At times he would glance at the blonde boy before just as quickly screwing his eyes shut and muttering something to himself. Weirdly enough, there seemed to be a sense of almost pride nestled somewhere in the ninja's complicated expression.
"Ah, Lord Uzumaki, we were awaiting your arrival," the visitor spoke in a clipped, professional voice. It occurred to Naruto that his clothing was familiar, strikingly so. "I had hoped to approach you individually, but when I explained by reason for being here the Fifth Hokage insisted on holding a meeting."
"D-Did she now?" Naruto's eyebrow twitched anxiously.
The woman in question poured another dish of sake, downed it, and slammed the bottle down. From behind a stack of paperwork she cast a dark look at the young man. "Brat…"
"I-I swear, I haven't done anything! Not a single prank! He has nothing on me!"
"I beg to differ, Lord Uzumaki."
Naruto choked.
"Naruto, please, just let him explain-" Kakashi began, only to be interrupted by his pupil.
"Come on Kakashi-sensei! You know me! I would never do something like that!"
"He hasn't even-"
"You can't let them take me to jail!" the boy cried hysterically, clutching to his sensei's vest. "There's no ramen in jail, let alone Ichiraku's!"
"Naruto-"
"Brat!" Lady Tsunade smashed a fist into her desk, silencing the boy's moaning. "Shut up and listen to him!"
The visitor smiled. "Thank you, Lady Tsunade. Truly, Lord Uzumaki, this is a splendid day. I bring good news from the Land of Demons and Lady Shion!"
"Shion…?" Naruto mumbled.
The girl, more or less a woman now, had been a part of a mission given to him and his team. During the incident with the stone soldiers, he had helped her seal away the great evil that was Mōryō. It had been one of the trickiest, hairiest missions he had been sent on yet, to the point where he had nearly died.
But Shion… she was, or had been, special to him. They had bonded, and either due to the emotions running highly or the fact she was the last of her family line, for a night they had been closer. It was something Lee liked to rib him on from time to time, but to his knowledge that had been the end of their relationship. Short and sweet.
"Indeed, congratulations Lord Uzumaki. When we of the Land of Demons heard the joyous news, why, we sent for a messenger to bring you back!"
"What are you talking about!? And what's with this 'Lord Uzumaki" stuff!? I'm just plain old Naruto!"
The man blinked. "Oh? Were you not yet informed?"
"Here we go…" Kakashi sucked in a breath as Tsunade's glare worsened tenfold.
Sakura rocked back and forth nervously, eyeing the three older adults in the room in anticipation. Naruto, for his part, was completely in the dark. What were they talking about? He had never been good at guessing games, and this hardly seemed the time.
"Will you just spit it out, buddy!?" the young ninja finally cried.
"Lady Shion has given birth to a pair of healthy twin sons!"
It was as if the world came to a sudden halt. In that moment, everything seemed to still and stopped moving. Naruto was half-sure that if he looked outside he'd see birds suspended mid-flight. His brain relayed the message again, then again, then again, then once more before it finally sunk.
"O-Oh… I'm… happy for her," Naruto said woodenly.
"Indeed! She was so overwrought with joy that she couldn't wait to tell you. However, due to her being in recovery, we saw fit to bring you back ourselves."
"M-M-Me? Why would you ever want that? Hahahahahaha…" his laugh was stilted and forced, a sure sign of shock.
Kakashi stepped forward. "Take a breather Naruto. How about you sit down?"
"Why, shouldn't a father be there to see his children grow up?"
A hammer of realization smashed down upon Naruto, in that moment all his delusions were shattered. Father… father… He was a father. He had two young sons in a distant land who he had never met and had left before they were even born. Emotions flooded his heart and mind, too fast and powerful to differentiate at once.
Fear, joy, sadness, confusion, pride, all of it threatened to drown him in a tidal wave of shock. The world was finally set into motion again, but this time it seemed to spin. The world tilted on itself, everything began to grow darker as the cold wood of the floorboards finally made impact with his head.
Oh man, I think I'm blacking out, were the final, sobering thoughts the young shinobi had before the merciful claws of the abyss finally drew him into unconsciousness.
0-0-0-0
"Lord Uzumaki… Lord Uzumaki!?" a voice called out, seemingly from a distance.
"Easy, Naruto, easy… try to take it slow. Sakura, can you get him some water?" another, more familiar voice seemed to have its hand underneath his head.
"What- What happened?" he murmured as the image seemed to crystallize.
Kakashi stood above him, flanked on the other side by the foreign visitor. The man seemed to have a concerned look on his face as he eyed the young boy. His sensei hauled him upwards into a sitting position with a grunt.
"What happened?"
"You passed out brat," Tsunade chuckled as she poured herself some more sake. "Lord have mercy, if only I was so lucky."
"So… it wasn't a dream?"
The Fifth Hokage cackled sharply like a witch, almost reveling in his hopeless naivety. Kakashi was a bit more sympathetic, the older jonin taking the glass of water Sakura gave him and passing it to his pupil. Naruto gulped down the cold beverage thirstily, feeling as though he had just run a marathon. With a heaving breath, he lowered the glass and tried to take a moment to situate himself.
Shellshocked, he turned towards the visitor. "Father?"
"Yep," he smiled.
"...Twins?"
"Yep!"
"..." Naruto looked at his sensei blankly before turning back to the emissary. "Shion?"
"Congratulations!"
"I think he's blacking out again- Hang on there, Naruto!" Kakashi smacked the blonde ninja's cheek. "Stay awake for me kid."
What did this mean for him? Was he going to have to leave the village? Was he going to need to abandon his life as a ninja? Who would bring back Sasuke? Who would protect the village from her enemies? A whole new emotion began to worm its way into the young boy's heart as the gravity of the situation truly seemed to unfold.
"Oh for- Stand up kid!" Tsunade hauled him to his feet with a single hand and set down her bottle of booze. "Now listen up! You're a leaf ninja, and so long as I'm running this village there will be no deadbeats! Believe me, I know what it's like to lose your man and I won't have you inflicting that on some poor girl!"
"Lady Tsunade, don't you think that's a bit… forceful?" Sakura tried to venture but was quickly silenced by a burning glare from her mentor. "N-Nevermind."
"What am I going to do?" Naruto breathed helplessly. "What am I going to do!?"
"You're going to pack what you need and head out for the Land of Demons immediately is what you're going to do! Brat, you may be like a grandson to me but don't think that I'm going to let you skip out on your responsibility as a parent!'
"B-But Sasuke! The village!"
"Will be taken care of," she said, gentler this time as she laid a hand on her shoulder. "You've saved us Pain, from the Shikaku, let us handle some problems for once. Not everything needs to be your responsibility, kid."
"But… I lived here forever. I don't know anywhere else."
Tsunade smiled, a mix of sad and proud. "Part of growing up is getting used to pushing your boundaries. Granted, I would have started a bit slower but we can hardly take it back now can we? Brat, Naruto, you know you'll always be welcomed here. You're our hero, but right now that girl, Shion, she's on her own. Are you going to let her kids- your kids grow up without their father?"
"No" was the first word that appeared in his mind. Kneejerk and instinctive. How many nights had he come home to an empty kitchen? How many nights had he wished someone would just tuck him into bed? Or read him a story? Or even just go to the park and do all the things a child and their parent should do? Could he really force that on two innocent lives?
"I… I'll go. I'll go," saying it tasted bitter somehow, as if he were admitting defeat.
Another hand came down on his other shoulder. Kakashi.
"Naruto, you have no idea how happy your parents would be to hear that," the older man smiled, a genuine thing that seemed to make Naruto feel a bit better.
"You'll set out for the Land of Demons immediately along with… eh, what was your name again?"
"Nobuo, madam Hokage, Nobuo Shiganshina," the man bowed.
"Right, Nobuo. I want you to take a few of your comrades with you. I think Lee's team is on leave for now."
Ironic, Naruto almost wanted to smile. It had been most of their team that had accompanied him the first time. Perhaps that was why Tsunade had recommended them. Better to bring along someone experienced in the area's layout and fauna.
"And me, ma'am?" Sakura raised her hand.
"I want you to stay here for now. In time, it'll likely be that we need to venture to the Land of Demons to officiate a marriage ceremony," the Hokage winked at her younger subordinates. "In the meantime, you need to continue your training. Kakashi."
"Yes ma'am?"
"I want you to round up Team Guy and get them up to speed. You can accompany them until they reach the Land of Swamps, after that they should be safe for the rest of the way. Since we stopped the Ghost Army that region has been relatively peaceful."
"At once!" with that, the jonin sensei flickered away.
Naruto took a seat against the wall, joined shortly by his pink-haired teammate who leaned her head on his shoulder. The contact was welcome, and comforting. Out of all the times he had nearly died, where he had faced that thing living inside his soul, he would have taken any of them over this next journey.
"Whatever happens, Naruto," Sakura mumbled quietly. "You'll always be a part of Team 7 and the Leaf Village, never forget that."
He knew that, he had grown up knowing that, it had driven him through some of the toughest fights of his life. But hearing it from someone he had loved for so long… it put a fire in his chest. He was Naruto Uzumaki, son of the Fourth Hokage and Hero of the Leaf! He could face anything, and this was no different!
With a newfound vigor, the blonde ninja stood proud. With a familiar, cocky smile on his face he turned to Nobuo and gave him a thumb's up.
"I'll give it my all then, because that's my ninja way. Believe it!"