A/N: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

"Naruto-chan, you seem to be in a really good mood."

Naruto looked away from the window and stared at Hinata. Her best friend had her head tilted to the side, pale lavender eyes burning with curiosity while their classmates shuffled to their respective seats. It was the start of the school day and for the first time in a long time, she had been woken up by the mess of someone else making her breakfast.

It had been wonderful and her heart didn't feel so hollow in the morning. Kumiko had even offered to make her a packed lunch but she refused because it wasn't good for her to be greedy. Kenji even offered to take her to the Academy, even insisted to go with her but she was seven. She wasn't a baby and she could take care of herself.

Besides, people would give Kenji very cold looks if they saw him with her again and she didn't want him and his family to leave her.

"I found out about my parents," she admitted, lowering her head back onto her arms. Hinata blinked and Naruto stared down at the table, mesmerizing the scratches on the table. She allowed her lips to curl up to a slightly smile. "I…found out that I look like my Mom but I have my Dad's hair color and eye color."

Hinata blinked but she didn't give her, her usual smile instead her best friend looked almost hesitant. Naruto knew why. Her best friend could be very protective, overprotective when she thought about it and it was nice. But…Hinata-chan had a lot on her plate because her father wasn't going easy on her. Those scratches and bruises on her friend's arms told her that the man was still going intense on her training.

A training that her best friend hated with all of her heart.

"Did the H-Hokage finally agreed to tell you about your parents?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

Naruto scowled and wrinkled her nose. The Hokage never told her anything about her parents, always told her that she had to wait till she was either sixteen or became a chuunin. She didn't know why she had to be treated differently from the other orphans because the other orphans had been given some kind of information about their parents.

The only thing that the old man told her was that her parents had been a shinobi and that they had been powerful shinobi.

"No," she admitted. "You know Gramps won't tell me anything."

No amount of begging, tears and silent treatment had been enough to move the man into telling her.

"Then who told you about your parents?" Hinata asked and Naruto straightened her back.

She gathered all the courage inside of her and focused her eyes on her best friend. "I was playing with two kids when their Dad came up to them and when he found out what my name was, he told me that it was typical of my parents to give me an unconventional name."

Of course, she wouldn't call her name unconventional. It was an awesome name, a strong name as the Hokage had told her and she was going to live up to that name. Once she grew up and get that Hitai-ate then she was going to become the strongest kunoichi in the world. Once that was done, she would wear the same hat as the Hokage and people were going to respect her.

"Naruto-chan…do you think you can trust him?" Hinata asked, eyes flashing with uncertainty.

Naruto closed her eyes, contemplated long and hard over the question, that very good question and then allowed a shaky breath to come out of her lips. She knew Kenji and his family were too good to be true because why did they seem to care so much about her? What did she do to get this much care from them? Was that what it meant to be a family?

Families were still a strange concept in her mind.

"Did the man also tell you that your parents abandoned you because you look like a fox?"

Her heart stopped at those words and a cold feeling tickled down her spine. Anger, hot boiling rage flooded her and Naruto stuffed it down into the volcano of emotions that always threatened to come out. She inhaled and exhaled before swirling her head to look at the girl, that never seemed to leave her alone.

Arrogance and cruelty colored the brown eyes of Ami. The purple-haired girl had a cruel smirk on her lips and from the corner of her eye, she could see Hinata getting ready to pounce on the smirking girl. No matter how tempted she was, no matter how much she wanted Hinata to use her taijutsu on her…she couldn't allow her friend to get into trouble.

It was fine for her to get into trouble but Hinata-chan would get into serious trouble with her Dad.

"My parents didn't abandon me!" Naruto snarled, baring her teeth at the smirking girl. Her parents loved her. The Hokage told her that her parents loved her, had been dreaming of her as he would tell her whenever he felt some form of pity towards her. "My parents didn't abandon me! And I don't look like a fox!"

Ami sneered. "And what's your proof? My parents told me that you were abandoned!"

Murmurs of agreement came all around her and not for the first time, barrels of humiliation washed over her. So many eyes locked onto her and Hinata stroke her arm, almost trying to sooth her but she couldn't calm down. What happened next wasn't her proudest moment but there was only so much she could take.

She bared her teeth and without a second thought, Naruto pounced onto the purple-haired girl. Cries erupted. Screams filled the air and Naruto smashed her fist against the girl's cheeks. Tears erupted and streamed down the crybaby's eyes but it wasn't enough. It was never going to be enough. She was going to make her pay for that insult.

She would get even.

Chunks of hair flew and a little part of her did feel guilty for ruining that pretty hair Ami took pride in. But the cruel part of her thrived with the cries from her classmate. She wanted her to cry like how she tried to make her cry. It was wrong. Even evil if she would admit this to herself but she deserved it.

Anyone that tried to break her was going to face the consequence of her actions.

It might had been minutes before Iruka-sensei charged into the room. The chatter died down and the cold air around her seemed to grow colder until she trembled with fear. The hairs on her arm stood up and with great reluctance, Naruto dropped Ami onto the ground and turned to stare at the cold eyes of her teacher.

Those chilling eyes that looked at her like she was some kind of monster and Naruto hated him for giving her those looks.

"What happened here?" Iruka demanded, voice blared like a bunch of loud sirens.

She should answer him but what was the point of her saying anything? There was no way he would believe her because everyone seemed to think the worst of her. She wasn't bad and Ami deserved it. No matter how much her teacher looked at her with those chilling, accusing eyes, she was never going to utter the words that he wanted her to say.

"Naruto is crazy!" Ami snapped, rubbing her eyes. She hissed and touched her scratched up cheeks while Iruka didn't bother to correct her when she said those hurtful words to her. Several eyes demanded that she apologized to her, even though it was Ami that started this whole mess with her.

If anyone should apologize to her then it should be Ami.

Iruka stared at her and she knew, just knew, that if she had been like the other children then he would demand for an explanation. He wouldn't look at her like that and he certainly would scold Ami for insulting her. Her story would have been told and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't see Ami as some innocent victim.

She was a bully that pried on the weak.

"Naruto, ap—"

"—Don't bother," Naruto snarled, dashing straight towards the door. Iruka blinked and his face grew red as if he was furious with her manners but she didn't care about his feelings. He could tell the Hokage, tell the Principal and she was still going to walk out of the room. But the thought of Iruka having more ammo against her, was enough for her to stop the poison from coming out of her lips. "I'll show myself out."

There is no point of sticking around when you never even want to hear my side of the story.

Iruka stared at her.

"Naruto, you can't show yourself—"

Naruto clicked her heels together and paused for the longest time before marching away from her teacher. She would have touched the door if it wasn't for the fact that Iruka reached his hand out to her. He tightened his grip, almost left a mark on her skin and the anger inside of her seemed to be boiling over.

"Get your hands off of me and let me go!"

The words blared out and without a second thought, her teacher removed his hand off of her like someone burned his words. She blinked when several of her classmates gazed at her with wide eyes. Why were they looking at her? And why was Iruka looking at her with strange eyes? It didn't matter.

He let her go and that meant she was free to go back to her apartment.

It was better for her to go back because there was no point in being in school.

"You called for this meeting, Hiruzen."

Hiruzen rubbed the sides of his head and stared at his three council members. Not for the first time, did he feel frustrated with them. For the whole night, he went through the contract with the hopes that Uzumaki Takeshi had given them some kind of loophole. But no matter how many times he reread the contract, scanned back and forth, there was no sign of a loophole that he could twist to their advantage.

Even in his old age, Uzumaki Takeshi had been shrewd and sly with his contract.

"Uzumaki Kenji is alive," he declared, clasping his hands together and focused his eyes on the three members. "And he is on a warpath."

All three of the council members exchanged glances before they focused their gaze on him. All three of them had poker faces, not showing one tickle of their emotions and he took several deep breaths. This was a huge mess they were in, a mess that could potentially cripple them and empower the Uzumaki Clan. A clan that had already been terrifying on their own right during the war.

Danzo thinned his lips in displeasure. "Are you certain that…man survived the attack?"

"Do you wish for me to summon my weeping assistant?" he asked dryly, trying and failing to prevent the irritation that threatened to come out of his voice. He settled with smacking his hands on the table. "Because he would happily tell you that Kenji nearly assaulted him in order to get his meeting with me."

Homura grimaced and rubbed his jaw. "That boy always had a horrible temper but how can you be certain that it is him? For all intents and purpose, he and the Uzumaki Clan have been declared dead from the moment Iwa, Kumo and Kiri surrounded them and broke through their seals."

His bones ached and for a brief moment, a pair of violet eyes came to his mind. It had been so long but he could still recall how Kushina wanted to go back to her birthplace, to see for herself if they were gone but something stopped her. Perhaps, it had been the reminder that there was still a war going around her.

"I'm certain that was definitely Kenji," he admitted wearily. The three elders thinned their lips and Hiruzen uncurled the scroll that contained the contract that he had made with the second Uzushiokage. "I have seen that boy shadow his grandfather from the moment, the man declared that Kenji will become his successor."

Numbness seeped into his head and a throbbing sensation began to creep into his head. Out of all the Second Uzushiokage's grandchildren, Kenji had been the last one that he expected for the old man to choose. Asa was the wise one, the one that always seemed to have his feelings in check, while Ren was the more popular one.

But between the three of them, Kenji was the most powerful one and the most vicious.

"Is he here for the jinchuuriki?" Danzo asked, lips twisted with displeasure.

A surge of exhaustion and guilt washed over him because a part of him knew he was a monster. A monster that he became because he wanted to ensure the good for the village. What happened to Naruto was unforgivable but there had been a benefit from the leak. Unlike most children, the blond-haired girl showed signs of having a humble personality. Of course, he didn't allow the guilt to come onto his face and instead exhaled.

He offered them a grim look. "He is an unhappy man and at this very moment, we are at risk of losing our jinchuuriki to the Uzumaki Clan."

"I told you not to sign that contract," Koharu growled, eyes blazing with irritation. "From the moment I read that contract, I saw that there were more things benefitting the Uzumaki Clan and Uzushiokagure than us but you have to be blinded by Sensei's friendship with the man."

Yes, Koharu and Homura warned him against signing the contract but not once did he think that it would reach this point. Not once did he believe that someone would risk angering him and spilling the information to the public. Unless Danzo slipped up, there was no chance for him to pinpoint the blame on him. This was irritating. This was petty but in a way that he had to make sure that their jinchuuriki was emotional stable.

If Kushina was alive then this whole mess could be avoided. If Keisuke was alive then this problem wouldn't be problematic but the woman had been murdered on Naruto's second birthday. And if he was being honest, Hiruzen resented the people responsible for the woman's death. Namikaze Keisuke had been the best caretaker when it came to Naruto, always had her eyes on her.

"I didn't believe anyone would be so short-sighed when it comes to the long-term consequence of their actions," he growled and all three of his councilmembers flinched. It wasn't good enough because they were in a huge mess. Naruto was within grounds to be taken away by Uzumaki Kenji because his grandfather put the clause about Kushina's descendants.

The fact that his shinobi had not stopped to think of what would happen if Naruto wasn't kept happy and couldn't look passed their own grief, meant Kenji had even more grounds for his demands.

Even if Kenji agreed to keep Naruto in Konoha, he would make another demand and that demand could cripple them.

And there is only one person who will be petty enough to risk everything to do this. Hiruzen tightened his jaw and locked his gaze on Danzo. Throughout the whole conversation, the man made no mention or showed any feelings about what happened. Though, he did notice that the man clenched his hand with what he hoped to be, was irritation.

"And why are you looking at me? I certainly am not stupid enough to leak such sensitive information," Danzo thinned his lips and darted his eyes at the other two councilmembers, who just stared at him. "I want the Jinchuuriki and I want to train her as a weapon but I have no desire for that girl to be alienated from the village. I don't want the girl to decide to go to the enemy."

But you want this hat and you weren't happy when Keisuke declared that Naruto won't be raised as a shinobi. No one had been happy with Minato's mother demands, not when the girl had a whole heritage build upon becoming a shinobi. However, he presumed there would have been time to convince the woman and if she didn't want Naruto to become a shinobi then…

Well, there were other ways that he could get Naruto to become a shinobi.

"Then find me a scapegoat that I can throw at Kenji," he said darkly, boring his eyes into his old rival's eyes. Danzo's lips twitched while Koharu and Homura curled their lips into a thin line. They needed a good scapegoat and there were two people that he wanted to face Kenji because their actions ruined his plans for Naruto. "We need to appease Kenji if we want to keep Naruto in the village."

Homura locked his gaze on him. "He cannot take our jinchuuriki away from us."

"We were lucky with Kushina," Hiruzen reminded, "she fell in love with Minato but Naruto doesn't have anyone in that sense. That girl has always been focused on her goals, she is just like her father in that regard."

"It is better for a girl to be focus on her goals then for her to have false ideas of love," Koharu scoffed. "The current generation of Kunoichi are a mockery to everything that I stood for, and that child gives me some hope for the future. That girl is going to go places and if the Uzumaki Clan remove her from our care then we are losing a huge asset."

Yes, it would be a tragic loss if Naruto was taken away from them. Despite what Naruto believed, he did see her grades on her very first semester in the Academy and it had been impressive. Not that he expected it to be less than impressive because Keisuke had always been insistent that the little girl was smart, that she was a genius.

"This child is going to go places, Hokage-sama and…I'm not saying this as her guardian but as a person."

He could never understand why Keisuke refused to call herself as Naruto's grandmother when they were alone.

"Unfortunately, Naruto is considered a member of the Uzumaki Clan," Hiruzen rubbed the sides of his head and let out a sigh. "And in the eyes of Kenji and the members of his clan, Naruto isn't someone that they would give up without a fight. We all know how loyal an Uzumaki can be to their loved ones, to their families and how far they will go to ensure their loved one happiness."

The three elders shot scowls at him but did not contradict his words. How could they? Throughout their lives, they had witnessed the distance that the Uzumaki Clan would go for their love ones. Uzumaki Mito sealed the Kyuubi inside of her because of her husband, as a way to help him, and the Uzumaki Clan went as far as to make a contract to ensure Kushina's happiness.

"Let me study the contract and see if there is something that we can use to ensure she stays here," Homura waved his hand at him.

Hiruzen sighed, unraveled the scroll and pushed it towards his old teammate. Well if the man believed he could do a better job in finding a loophole then he could be his guest. But if neither him nor Danzo can figure out a loophole then I'll have to bring Shikaku in. The man could possibly find a way to ensure that Naruto remained in the village.

"We need to ensure that Naruto is happy in the village and make sure that she tells Kenji that she doesn't want to leave," he informed them as the three other elders skim read the scroll. "I'll be having a meeting with the general shinobi members of the village and I'll be going over to the Academy to have a…talk with the teachers and Principal about ensuring Naruto is happy."

Koharu eyed him. "It took you long enough."

"If I wait for Naruto to spill about her injustice then I'll be waiting for a long time," Hiruzen replied. "At this current moment, we cannot afford the teachers being biased towards her when her own uncle is looking for any reason to snatch her away from us."

They couldn't afford to lose their jinchuuriki.

"You don't seem happy, Dad."

Kenji paused in his step and glanced over his shoulder to stare at his oldest and only son. Eisuke looked at him with curious but concern green eyes, a frown playing on his lips and he couldn't help but stare at his child. It was a miracle that his son could look at him with those kind of eyes and not resent him for not even considering the idea of him going to UA High School.

Even if his son had a water Kekkei Genkei, he looked too much like him for him to consider him being on television, where even the Elemental Countries could see him. Just the thought brought a shiver of fear down his spine because one wrong move, and the children of Japan could experience things that they had only heard on television.

"There has been very little reason for me to be happy in these last few days," he grumbled. Eisuke frowned while his wife shot him a look of worry but Kenji just shook his head before darting his eyes around the compound. It had been both a surprise and a concern to find that the Uchiha Clan compound had been relocated in the outskirts of the village.

Nothing good came from this and a tickle of suspicion began to creep into his head. The last time he came to Konoha, the clan compound had been closer to the village. It had been near the old Senju compound but now it was…here. It was isolated, almost as if the Uchiha clan was being punished in some way and form, which was odd.

Just like the Senju Clan, the Uchiha Clan was one of the founding clan but while the Senju Clan had dwindled down to Tsunade and even then, his distant relative carried the Senju blood from her mother's side.

"The houses here look a lot like Touya's house," Kenji stopped in his tracks and looked at his son. So much pain and grief clung to his son's eyes and not for the first time, he felt his heart clenched with hurt for what his son had to endure. It had been a year, a long year, since the news broke out in his son's school and despite the smiles, his son hadn't been the same. "It is the same…kind of style."

It was inappropriate for them to talk about it but if they were on the topic then he should take advantage of it. With a sigh, Kenji gestured for his wife and two daughters to walk in front of him before making his way to his son. It had been a long time, a really long time since he offered any form of reassurance but it seemed like time wasn't helping his son.

Then again, time never really healed all wounds and the hollow ache in his heart was proof of it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" his son blinked and shifted his eyes at him. This was awkward but he had time now and well between his wife and him, he did have some experience when it came to these things. "You haven't talked about it since the funeral and you refused to go to see the therapist about what you went through."

Eisuke looked away from him. "What's there to talk? Touya is dead and he isn't coming back like Uncle Ren and Aunt Nadeshiko."

"You think I haven't known about you visiting Todoroki Fuyumi and her family to see their shine for him," his son flinched and Kenji took a deep breath before looking up at the sky. "He might have been stubborn, a little bit…self-centered like his father but Touya was your first friend. It is okay if you miss him, if you want to talk about him or even if you hate Enji."

"What can I say, Dad?" his son looked at the smiling Uchiha civilians before staring at him with eyes filled with slight irritation. "That I blame myself for not reporting on Enji-san? That I want to take advantage of his offer even though I know Touya will never forgive me if I took his offer? Or that I should have admitted to our teacher and his parents that he had been abusing his Quirk again?"

There seemed to be tears welling up in his son's eyes and Kenji looked at his trembling son. Regret filled his chest, ripping the buried wounds inside of him. Kenji exhaled and placed his hand over his son's hair, raking through the soft red hair. It was wrong that his child blamed himself while the person truly at fault, did not seem willing to admit that he had been the one at wrong.

"What happened to Touya wasn't your fault," he declared, clearing his throat and kept his expression blank when his son looked at him with disbelieving eyes. "You did your best to support him and the same went for Tomoyo but the two of you are only kids. It wasn't your responsibility to stop him from going to that mountain, from…continuing on with that training."

Eisuke looked at him with sad eyes. "Why didn't you inform the police? Why didn't you take him when I ask you? Or Uncle Asa?"

"Society isn't fair," he explained, the words tasted so bitter in his tongue, and he gently pushed his son to continue on their steps. "If your uncle and me took the Todoroki kids from their father then things become complicated. Society doesn't hold heroes responsible for abuse and they wouldn't believe me nor your Uncle about him."

His son took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "When we were five, his Dad wasn't bad so why did he start to neglect him?"

"Only Enji have the answers to that question," Kenji replied honestly after a long pause. "I don't know why Endeavor behaved that way with Touya but the best thing that you can do…is to move forward."

The teen stared at him for the longest time before looking at the curious members of the Uchiha clan. "Is that how you recovered from what happened to Uncle Ren?"

I barely remember how I took care of myself during those days.

A mess. He had been a disaster once he arrived in Japan and it was the knowledge that he had one brother alive, that kept him going through everything. But the knowledge that Asa was alive, hadn't been enough to sedate the immense hollowness inside of him. Grief kept tore through his skin but then he got immensely drunk and met Kumiko.

They kept meeting during the weeks after the incident of her horrible ex-boyfriend and on their second date, they slept together. Three weeks later, Kumiko came to him and told him that she was going to have Eisuke. You can leave but I'll raise this child with or without your help. The knowledge of his first child had been enough to snap him out of his grief for a while.

Of course, he couldn't tell his son that.

"When you turn 18, I'll tell you about what I did to deal with your Uncle's death," he promised him. "But if you ever want to talk about Touya then you can…talk to me or Akira-obaasama, she will be more than happy to tell you about how she dealt with death."

Asa was a definite no at this period of time.

An icy wind tickled his cheeks, brought out a shiver down his whole body, and Kenji forced himself to continue walking through the large Uchiha clan compound. He could see a couple of the older shinobi leaning closer together, their eyes lingering on his hair before moving to his wife and three children. It was expected that they would stare at them.

So many years had passed since they had seen an Uzumaki.

He glanced over his shoulder and offered a nod to one of the older Uchiha. If Ren was here, he would offer a goofy smile and made small talk but that wasn't his way. The old Kenji would have scowled, would have felt envy over the fact that the Uchiha had a powerful Kekkei Genkei and had a tickle of doubt about fighting them.

A part of him would always have that blanket of fear over him.

But now a larger part of him had to wonder if the Sharingan had a backlash like his children's Kekkei Genkei did. Blindness was probably a side-effect and it would explain why members of the Uchiha Clan took good care of their eyes. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered at this moment, except to secure his niece's future.

"So…what is Aunt Kushina's friend like?" Kiko asked, making Kenji dart his eyes to his daughter. She had a curious smile on her face and he couldn't help but paused at how to describe Uchiha Mikoto. As a teen, the girl had been gentle and demure but now? He had no idea on what was the woman's personality like.

People changed and Kushina was Mikoto's best friend, the only true friend that she had outside of the clan.

"Nothing like your Aunt Kushina," he grabbed his youngest daughter by her waist and placed her on his shoulder. The laughter rang in the air and Kiko tugged on his hair while Akane reached her hand out to his pants. "She was a lot like your Aunt Nadeshiko except your Aunt Nadeshiko would be appalled about the idea of murder."

Disappointed, Akane shot him a look of disappointment and looked down at her feet. "So she isn't cool then."

"What matters is that she is the mother of your cousin's friend and your father's friend," Kumiko reminded the little girl. "And you will be on your best behavior when we meet her, which means that your father and I expect you to conduct yourself like how you would conduct yourself whenever Akira-obaasama comes to visit us."

"Yes, Mother." Akane muttered, straightening her back and putting on what was the most phoniest smile that he had ever seen on his child's face. It reminded him of the fact that his middle child was similar to Kushina when it came to that regard, except his child couldn't make friends easily and offering warmth was not his child's specialty.

Out of all his children, Akane was the one that reminded him of his younger self.

But I need to correct her behavior.

He could correct her once this whole situation was over or maybe he should wait a few more years to assess the situation. Perhaps, his daughter would change once she grew older because time could change people. If there was one thing he could be certain, it was that time could be a determiner of a person's fate.

It didn't take long for them to reach Mikoto's house. The good thing about the whole clan compound thing, was the fact that the mailbox had Fugaku's name painted on the mailbox. He inspected the mailbox for a brief moment before looking back at the bell on the wall. This was going to be strange if you asked him.

There was no doubt in his mind that the former Uchiha heiress was going to murder him for leaving Naruto and for not visiting Kushina when he had the chance.

A deep breath and Kenji pressed on the button. The bell sliced through the air, signalling the fact that he was here to visit and his inevitable doom. A doom that he wanted to avoid but if he wanted answers, the facts then Mikoto was the best person to go to in this situation. If the Hokage told him the truth about Mikoto being the unofficial caretaker for his niece, then she would know about his niece's past.

The moment the door rustled was the moment that he schooled his expression into a blank look. His heart thundered against his chest, threatened to escape from his ribs and Kenji took a deep breath. There was no need for him to panic because he could handle it. If Mikoto blamed him for what happened to Kushina and Naruto, then he would take all of his blames.

The door slid opened and black eyes landed on his daughter before landing once again on his eyes. The jounin flak jacket was gone, replaced a blouse that was covered by an apron, and it was so…odd to see the woman look so much like a housewife. Maybe it was his own bias but he had been expecting the woman to continue working as a shinobi.

But the woman showed no signs that she was still an active shinobi.

"K-Kenji!"

He nodded and stared at the gawking woman.

"We have a lot to talk about, Mikoto."

They had a lot of catching up to do.

A/N: So for anyone that haven't read the edited version of Guardian Chronicles in AO3, then it should be mentioned that the changes made about Naruto would be seen in this version as well as the subtle changes to Todoroki background because of certain events in the manga. Do tell me of your thoughts about the chapter and what you think of the Uzumaki Clan so far as well as the interactions of the characters.