(Alright… so I lied a little about the update schedule this week… As it turned out this is probably the most busy spring break I have ever had and I humbly apologize)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto (Surprise I Know)
"Naruto-kun, I would like to introduce you to Uzumaki Bōkyaku, a distant relative of yours."
"HuUuH?!"
"Wait you mean that…" Naruto looked away from his Ojīchan and down at the red haired man who was holding him in a tight embrace.
"Yes Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said.
Naruto felt tears welling up in his eyes. Normally children, no matter what age, would be nervous meeting another family member that they had never met before, some would even be skeptical if one suddenly showed up in their lives out of the blue. But Naruto… he wasn't a normal boy. Not now and not ever. As such he threw his arms around the red haired teenager and cried tears of joy that stained the cloth under Bōkyaku's armor.
The two stayed this way for sometime before the Hokage spoke up, ending the moment. "Naruto-kun, why don't you take Uzumaki-san home."
Naruto let go of the red headed teen and wiped the tears off his face with his arm. He gave the Hokage a blinding smile. "Hai, Ojīchan!" He then turned his attention to the redhead who had seemed to have reigned in his emotions. "Ne ne, lets go I want to show you my house!" Naruto said as he grabbed onto Bōkyaku's hand with two of his own and began to drag him towards the door.
"Oh, and Uzumaki-san before I forget, come back either tomorrow or the day after. We can give you the papers for becoming an official citizen of Konoha then."
"Hai Hokage-sama—! H-hey Gaki hold on a minute!" Bōkyaku tried to say but was still pulled out of the room by the blonde's surprising strength.
"Ja ne Ojīchan!"
As they left the Inu ANBU turned to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, should we have told him about… that."
Hiruzen shook his head. "The boy is smart, I'm sure he will figure it out. Watch them for the rest of the night. Make sure they get home."
The ANBU nodded and flickered out of sight.
Naruto's mind was spinning as he walked out of the Hokages Tower. He has a living family member. And that was the man—no, not a man but he was big enough to look like one, well, compared to him anyway—who was walking next to him holding his hand in a tight yet comforting grip.
It was nice. It made something inside of him feel… whole. Like something that had been missing from the very beginning of his life had finally been brought before him and just clicked into place.
"Ano... Naruto-Kun was it?" Naruto heard the teen beside him ask. He turned to him and nodded.
"Mmh-hmm! Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage of Konoha-Dattebayo!" Naruto said proudly puffing out his chest. The action caused Bōkyaku to chuckle.
"Dattebayo humm?" Bōkyaku thought out loud. Naruto scowled at him with narrowed eyes.
"So what? Got a problem with it?"
"No not at all-Dattebaro." Bōkyaku said purposely, showing off his own verbal tic. "You're not the only one with a tic." Naruto looked up at him with stars in his eyes. He hadn't known that others in the family had tics as well! Bōkyaku leaned down and gave the blonde a smile. "As you grow older you will be able to mostly control it—I still say it when I get overly emotional."
"Sugoi! Ne, ne, what's your name Onii-san? You know mine so it's only fair that I know yours." Bōkyaku blinked for a second, a little surprise that the sun-kissed blonde was already calling him a brother and blushed in embarrassment as he had just only realized that he had yet to introduce himself to the boy whose hand he had been holding for sometime now.
"Gomen Naruto-kun. My name is Bōkyaku, Uzumaki Bōkyaku—but you can call me Onii-san if you would like. Current Clan-Head of the Kenjutsu Branch of the Uzumaki Clan." Bōkyaku said bashfully. It had been awhile since he said his official title out loud. It still felt weird to say as he didn't feel like a clan head of his branch of the family. He knew that there were others such as a Taijutsu branch but he was blanking on the others. There might have been a Fuinjutsu branch considering what his clan's Kekkei Genkai was. But he still wasn't sure.
"Clan?" Bōkyaku was taken out of his thoughts when he heard this. Turning to Naruto he gave the boy a nod.
"Yep, the Uzumaki Clan was one of the greatest—so great that they once controlled their own hidden village: The Village Hidden in the Whirlpool; located in the Land of Whirlpool." He said. "Did you not know?" Bōkyaku added slightly confused.
Naruto frowned. He hadn't known… Did his Ojīchan know? And if he did then why didn't he tell him? "Onii-san," Naruto said looking up at the redhead. "Do you know who my parents are?"
Bōkyaku froze and looked at the boy with visible concern plastered on his face. "Naruto-kun, why don't we speak more about this when we get home. I promise that we can talk as much as you want, okay?" Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically and pulled him along.
As the two arrived at the apartment building Bōkyaku tilted his head all the way up to look at it. He was not used to such large buildings. His last home was a two story building afterall. "So Naruto-kun which floor do you live on?"
"I own the whole building, but I live on the top floor." Naruto proudly announced. Bōkyaku was surprised to hear this.
"The whole building!?" Bōkyaku said, slightly alarmed. Why did his charge own a building!?
"YeP!" Naruto said, popping the 'P.' "Well technically only the top floor but people don't live on the other floors for some reason…" Naruto lied. However the lie was not noticed by Bōkyaku.
"Just the whole top floor huh?" Bōkyaku muttered under his breath as he followed Naruto into the building and up the stairs. The closer and closer they got to the apartment where the boy lived, the more and more trash and lack of upkeep Bōkyaku noticed. This was starting to increase his worries. If the outside of the apartments are like this then what did Naruto's apartment look like?
Bōkyaku soon found himself in front of the door to Naruto's apartment. "Im home!" Naruto shouted inside the apartment walking in. Bōkyaku followed and had to physically restrain himself from making any outward expressions on his face. The apartment was… not what he anticipated. Everything was dirty. The paint on the walls were peeling and the lights look like they need to be replaced and soon.
"Wow Naruto-kun… it's really… something." He said painfully as he stepped into the apartment. First order of business: make this liveable. He thought. Bōkyaku found Naruto sitting on a old couch and joined him.
"Alright then Naruto-kun, before we play twenty questions why don't we introduce ourselves properly, I can start first if you want?" Bōkyaku suggested, trying to take his focus off his surroundings. Seeing the blonde nod he began. "Alright then, my name is Uzumaki Bōkyaku, I am fifteen years old and a master in Kenjutsu. Now your turn."
"Umm… My name is Uzumaki Naruto-Dattebayo. I'm uh, eight years old and currently in my first year of the academy." Naruto said copying Bōkyaku's introduction. "Can I ask you questions now?" Bōkyaku smiled a little but nodded. He could tell that Naruto was not a patient boy. "Can you tell me about my parents?" Naruto asked, leaning forward in anticipation. Bōkyaku scratched the back of his head. Nervous that he might disappoint the boy.
"I don't know much Naruto-kun, but… Your mothers name was Uzumaki Kushina—she was the heiress of the clan. She had long red hair as most Uzumaki do and purple eyes a little brighter than my own. I assume she also had a tick like our own but since I never met her I wouldn't know. As for your father… Im sorry Naruto-kun but all I know is that he had blonde hair and blue eyes." Bōkyaku said sadly. But it didn't seem to matter to Naruto. The boy looked down to his lap with a few tears welling in his eyes. Seeing this Bōkyaku was about to hug the boy but Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Im fine Onii-san." Naruto told him with a blinding smile. "You said you were a master of K-ke-kinjutsu?" Naruto asked, butchering the word slightly.
"It's Kenjutsu Naruto-kun. But anywho, Kenjutsu is the art of swords, mostly used by Samurai such as myself." Bōkyaku said a little painfully. "However since I'm not in service to a Daimyo nor do I have a master, I'm technically labeled as a Rōnin." He clarified.
"A Samurai!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. "Can you teach me? There's this Teme at the academy—"
"Naruto!" Bōkyaku said, surprising the boy before reprimanding him.. "Don't say Teme, that's rude. You shouldn't even know that word." Naruto muttered an apology under his breath.
"—There's a kid named Sasuke in my class and he's a jerk!" Naruto said again but slowly not to get Bōkyaku's ire again. The teen let out a sigh in defeat.
"Hhhhhhhhhh… well see Naruto. We would need to get some supplies first though."
"Okay Onii-san!" Naruto said.
"Do you want to ask anything else? Or should we start dinner?"
"Uhhh, what's behind your eyepatch?"
Bōkyaku flinched at the question and unconsciously touched the black patch that laid over his right eye. "I-I'll tell you about that later Naruto-kun." Bōkyaku said defensively. Naruto raised an eyebrow but nodded. Bōkyaku then quickly sat up and went to the kitchen. The two didn't share many words after that and they soon went to sleep.
Naruto woke up the next morning when the sun hit his eyes. Begrudgingly he sat up and gave the sun a glare. Or tried to at least. Rubbing his eyes he looked around his room sadly. There was no one on the couch. It looked undisturbed. Must have been a dream—! He stopped that train of thought as he smelled the aroma of Ramen. Wearly he got out of bed and sneaked into the kitchen where he was Bōkyaku making breakfast. It wasn't a dream! Naruto thought. His Onii-san looked the exact same as he did the other day but without the metal chest armor. Naruto's eyes widened greatly seeing him and jumped forward hugging Bōkyaku's legs.
"Onii-san!" Naruto announced his presence. The teen in question let out a surprised yelp as he felt Naruto crash into his legs. He fumbled the pot in his hands the sound of water splashing inside as he pressed it down onto the stove top in order to stabilize it.
"Naruto-kun! You scared me." Bōkyaku admitted. The redheaded teen had woken up about an hour ago and had decided to make breakfast after he took a shower—he had forgotten how nice a shower felt after bathing in rivers for the last month or so. "Your breakfast is on the table," Bōkyaku said, pointing to the plate of food in question. "And I made you lunch as well. We—or I—will have to go out and buy other food today after I meet with the Hokage for my citizenship. Until then I apologise what I won't be able to make you proper bentos [1] until then."
However Naruto didn't seem to care about this. He ran over to the table and looked over his homemade breakfast with stars in his eyes. It was Ramen! How did his Onii-san know it was his favorite! "Ne ne Onii-san! Can we have ramen every day?" Naruto said as he stuffed some into his mouth.
"Of course not!" Naruto almost choked.
"What? Why not!" Naruto pouted. Bōkyaku turned off the stove and emptied the pot's contents onto a plate for himself and sat down across from Naruto.
"Naruto-kun, I only made you ramen today because there was nothing else in the kitchen. Starting tomorrow you will be eating things other than ramen—It's seriously unhealthy for you!"
"B-but, but, Ramen!" Naruto said as if that would win him the argument. Bōkyaku gave the blonde a look.
"Eat."
"Fine…" Naruto mumbled crestfallen. However that didn't stop him from finishing his food in record time. He found that it tasted even better when you had someone to share it with! He left to put his plate in the sink and returned with his not-bento in his hands.
"Bye Onii-san!" Naruto said running out the door.
"Bye Naruto-kun! Have a nice day!" Bōkyaku yelled back as he watched Naruto leave for school. Now, Bōkyaku thought as he turned around and faced the apartment. He looked aged, well… Everything. Rolling up his sleeves he thought to himself. I think the Hokage would understand if I was a little late.
[1] A type of Japanese lunch box
To reviewers:
Kumafroste: I hope more people read as well!
Yuzuki476: I was planning on Naruto learning the Chakra Sealing Chains as that sort of like a bloodline or Clan Jutsu (Right or am I just being an idiot?)
Jak Frust: Yes Nagato and Karin will be showing up. I haven't decided when but they will!
If you want more then: Review, Favorite, Follow
Thank you.