If I owned Naruto I wouldn't be living off of cafeteria food at my college, now would I? >. All other characters are original, and mine. But you can borrow them if you e-mail me and ask politely. .
Changing Times
Chapter Ten: A new beginning.
Naruto glared at the man standing before him, anger flashing in his eyes. Though he was no longer host to the Kyuubi, he was still one of the most powerful ninja in all of Konoha, and he was not about to let Sasuke forget it.
His entire life he had been jealous of the Uchiha. He had had a family, even if it had been slaughtered when he was seven, where Naruto had had none. He had received sympathy from the village for the tragedy, where Naruto had been spurned.
And last but not least, he had been able to raise his family in peace, where Naruto could not. He had eight children, and a wife, but had thrown that all away with his arrogance. Forgetting how lucky he was, flaunting it in Naruto's face even as the blonde had mourned the loss of his own, and destroyed it all because of a temper tantrum.
"Do you have anything to say?" Naruto hissed, glaring at his long time rival, "Any explanation you would like to give Kakashi or your wife as to why the two children are missing?"
"Hinata has made movements to divorce me. She is my wife no longer," Sasuke whispered, staring at the floor, "And Setsuko was not Kakashi's daughter, she was your child."
"My daughter died with my wife five years ago!" Naruto screamed, his voice cracking, "And don't you ever dare remind me of that again!"
The two man stared each other down, anger and fury raging in both eyes as each fought mentally for superiority. Neither winning, the contest interrupted by a pounding on the door.
"Come in," Naruto snapped, his eyes going to Honda Uchiha, the young boy's face flushed from running.
"Hokage," the teenager panted, he had only been made gennin a year before, "They found evidence of Akira and Setsuko in one of the smaller villages," Sasuke's eyes widened, and Naruto let out a sigh of relief that both were obviously still alive, "They're alone."
The last two words sent chills up the blonde's spine as he realized what they meant. The world was cruel and harsh, especially for two young children out alone. Just because they were fairly well trained young ninjas meant nothing if they came across a missing-nin.
And undoubtedly they would.
"I want two ANBU squads sent out, and I want them brought back alive," Naruto snapped, two ANBU at the door nodded, looking toward Sasuke, "They are not missing-nin, and they are not to be treated as such. And he will not be going with you."
"But he's my son too!" Sasuke shouted, slamming his fist on the desk, Honda backing out of the room quickly.
"He stopped being your son the instant you tried killing him! You have no right to him, or any of his brothers or Hinata! And don't you forget it," the Hokage growled, staring straight into the sharingen without a sign of fear, "And you will do well to remember that in the future."
Sasuke growled angrily, but turned away from his long time rival's glare, leaving the room first. He knew that he had lost the battle the instant he had made the mistake of reminding Naruto of Setsuko's true heritage. It was a subject that had become taboo amongst the few people who remembered, Naruto ordering it swept into the back of the history books after Tenten's death.
"Father, Mama said to give you this," Honda whispered, handing his father a pouch and a scroll, "And for you to never to return without her permission."
"Thank you, Honda. I am still allowed to see you and your brothers though, right?" Sasuke asked nervously, shifting the money in the pouch to test its weight. He already knew the scroll was the deed to small apartment on the opposite end of town from the Uchiha residence
"We would rather you not," Honda mumbled nervously, "You scare us Father. You scare all of us."
Sasuke stared at his son in shock. Those words were not the explanation he had expected, nor wanted.
"I didn't mean to hurt Akira," Sasuke tried to explain as his young son, watching in horror as the child backed away, "Please, Honda, you have to believe me!"
"I'm sorry Father, but Mama wants me home within five minutes. She will send Zatoichi and Musashi out to kill you if you detain me," Honda whimpered, backing away from Sasuke's advancing hands.
"Please, Honda, please," Sasuke sobbed, collapsing to his knees in the dust of an empty street.
Setsuko stared out at the crowd in the city, awed by the sheer number of people. Konoha was half the size, or less, of the brimming metropolis spreading out before them. And, to be honest, she was slightly frightened. She had never been away from home before, and had never been around so many people.
"Don't worry, Setsuko, I'll protect you," Akira smiled, straightening his shirt.
"I don't need protection from anyone anymore Akira," Setsuko smiled, looking up at the Uchiha with a faded grin in her eyes, "But I'll protect you this time."
Akira laughed, and grabbed the girls arm, and dashed downward into the city, not a care in the world, already confident that they had thrown all chasers off their track.
The ANBU captain stared down at the two children playing in the meadow, a ring of flowers in the little girls hair. They had been easy enough to track down, it being rare for two as young as themselves to travel alone through small villages. The ANBU was slightly offended that they hadn't tried to cover their path in any manner.
He would have to talk to the Hokage later about the training methods used in the Academy, and about their methods of judging the abilities of students. These two were obviously in need of a few years of basic training, not a bad thing for two so young. Some sheltering from the violent ninja world wouldn't be a bad thing.
He motioned for the his team to move in a capture them, gently.
"Hey, get off of me!" Akira screamed, thrashing in the ANBU's grip, "Setsuko, SETSUKO!"
"Don't worry, little Uchiha, we'll take-" the ANBU was cut off as the boy in his arms disappeared in a poof of smoke, the little girl grinning as she, too, vanished.
"Kage Bunshin! Damnit!" one of the side ANBU cursed, the others groaning.
Their job had just become infinitely harder.
Owari (The End)
Author's Notes: Well, I finally finished this story. Part of it, at least. .;
Yes, there will be a sequel, I can assure you of that. But I'm going to take at least a week's breather before I begin writing it, mostly because finals are coming up shortly, and I desperately need to pass my math class.
That, and I need to start piecing together my Temari costume for Kumori Con. I'm really excited about this costume because it's flexible, and I can run around in it without worry of it falling apart or suffocating me. .
I am a Security mook by day, and Security Night Manager by dark remember, so I honestly need a costume that isn't going to kill me. My Chii costume from this past Sakura Con (where I was on Security duty for 30 hours in three days .; ) nearly killed me with the corset I was wearing within four hours. It wasn't pleasant. .;
Oh well, that's Con life for you. Security are the true Ninja's at every Anime Convention. They are rarely seen, unless they intend to be, and keep everything running. When programming needs someone to run and get spare DVD's, it's usually Security that picks up the slack. When registration needs more of whatever, it's usually Security that fetches whatever they need.
From grumpy guests to violent attendee's to medical emergencies it's Security that takes care of everyone's mess. And it's Security that always gets blamed for everything in the end, and loses face. But we are the true ninjas, and we know that, but we always come back for more. It's our duty, and it's our life.
Keep in mind that 90 people were Security staff at Sakura Con 2004, and there 4500 attendees, and not a single person died, and we only had one medical emergency. We did pretty damn good, if you ask me.
Sorry about the Convention rant, but I'm still recovering from Sakura Con. It usually takes a good two months for me to recover from staff duty, as it really is a hard job. It restarted my nightmares which led to me start this fic to try and cope with them.
It didn't help very well, but I did enjoy staying up to write this fic instead of rereading my old manga. .;
[... Akira screamed, thrashing in the ANBU's grip, "Setsuko, SETSUKO!"...] Heh, Episode 25 of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. For those of you who have seen the series, you know exactly what I'm getting at with this scene. . (Watch it, it's a GREAT series, comes out on DVD July 27th. )