The Brothers Uzumaki
Chapter 3
A Mother's Love
6 years earlier in the Lightning Country after the Kyuubi attack on Konoha
"You cursed little wretch! Come back here with those apples!" a shopkeeper yelled chasing after a young Koshou zipping through the crowd.
"You got plenty! You won't miss a few!" Koshou yelled back, he then slipped into an alleyway and hid. He sat still till the shopkeeper ran past him, then Koshou ran in the opposite direction, giving the shopkeeper the slip.
Koshou entered an abandoned building and sat down on the dirty floor and bit into one of the apples. He stopped eating when he heard someone walking upstairs. He walked up the stairs and peeked into one of the rooms. Huddled into a corner was a young girl with brown hair, green eyes and wearing a brown ragged dress.
"Go away." She said
"I'm not going to hurt you, here take one of these." Koshou tossed her an apple and started to walk back down the stairs.
"Thank you!" the girl said, causing Koshou to stop and turn around.
"No problem, what are you dong here? It's starting to get dark out, you should go home."
"Can't, no where to go. My brother went to try to find some food somewhere." The girl said casting her eyes downward. She took a large bite of the apple, and slowly chewed.
"Are you hungry? I can try to bring something back for you." Koshou said
"You don't have to, I'll be ok."
"No, I want to; stay here and I'll be back later." Koshou said. The young girl nodded and went back to work on the apple.
Koshou ran out of the house and headed toward home.
When Koshou was almost home he saw the shopkeeper at his front door.
"Busted" Koshou thought.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but he has become quite a problem at the market area. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't almost every day this week." The shopkeeper said wringing his hat in his hands.
"I'm so sorry, he really is a good boy; it's just that he's so angry sometimes. Please let me pay for what he has stolen." The woman was bowing and started to reach for her purse, but she was having trouble due to the bandages around her eyes.
"No, no, it's ok, it's just some fruit. I'm just worried about him, the other shopkeepers are talking amongst themselves, and they might have the local leader punish him." The shopkeeper said. His eyes were full of pity watching the young woman trying to find her purse. He was always amazed at how beautiful she looked even though he partially knows about the hardship she has been through. Her long black hair was her most stunning feature; he was always disappointed that he never gets to see her eyes. "If you could just explain to him the trouble he might get himself into." He bowed and made his way home.
The woman sighed and held a hand over chest, trying to ease some of the pain that gathered in her heart. She looked up as if she recognized something, "You can come in now, he's gone. You and I have quite a bit to talk about." She walked back into the house leaving the door open.
"How does she do that?" Koshou wondered. He lowered his head and walked inside the door. He walked into the small two room house, taking his shoes off at the door. He made his way to the living area. His mother was in chair looking toward the fireplace. She told him that even though she can longer see it, she liked to feel the heat from a fireplace on her face; it reminded her of home, of Konoha.
"Mom, I'm sorry I won't do it again…"
His mother looked at him "No, no you won't. Till I think you've learned you lesson, you'll be grounded. You'll only be allowed to go to school and the training spot with me, and I have a feeling you will be stuck inside for some time. Plus your training regiment will now be tripled because apparently you have an abundance of extra energy. Now go get cleaned up, dinner is ready."
Koshou was about to walk into the bathroom to wash when he suddenly stopped, realization appeared on his face, "Mom let me do one more thing, before I'm stuck inside!"
His mother turned her head inside his direction, "I'm afraid not young man, you're grounded and that is final."
"But Mom, I told my friend that I would bring her something to eat, she's only had an apple!"
His mother gasped, "What? Who is this friend, where is she?"
"She's at the old building in the south part of town." Koshou said running to the kitchen. He started grabbing various items and stuffing them in a bag. As soon as he was done he ran for the door.
"KOSHOU!" His mother yelled.
Koshou stood with his hand on the door knob and a look of surprise at his mother.
"Bring the girl here; we'll do what we can for her."
Koshou's eyes went wide and his smile grew from ear to ear. "Ah mom you're the greatest! I knew you could never be some mean old crow, at least never a crow!"
WHAM! Koshou's mother hammered his head with a right hook that slammed him headfirst into the floor. "Watch your tongue brat! Now get out of here!"
"Fine, fine ….geeze…" Koshou ran out the door off to help his new friend.
Konoha Present
"Yeah, mom was a character. Didn't let me get away with squat, and she was the kindest woman I know…who had one heck of a right hook." Koshou said.
Koshou was holding a container of orange liquid, he glanced at the label "Caution: May be permanent if exposed to skin. Hmmmm…" After a second of though he dumped it in a water drum Naruto just opened up, both of them where in a maintenance closet outside of a small bathhouse that is normally frequented by Jounin.
"She sounds great!" Naruto said. "I can't believe they still call me trash, after all I've done…" Naruto wasn't too happy when Koshou informed him of what some of the Jounin said about him earlier today.
"So, what are we doing here exactly?" Koshou said after peaking at the rest of the items Naruto was dumping into the water drum.
"The water in this water drum is stored, heated, and then sent to the showers, this dye works great when heated."
Koshou started putting two and two together; mean Jounins, showers, colored dye, exposed skin, equals revenge…. "Oh, you have such a dark gift." He smiled evilly.
"Thank you." Naruto said with a smile as he dropped in a pound of his itching powder.
"So what happened to your friend, did you find her again?" Naruto said after sitting back down, now was the time to wait for the contents to mix together then delivered through the water pipes to the showers and faucets.
Koshou smiled, "Now, this is where things get interesting, I found her alright, but also something else."
Flashback
Little Koshou was running through the streets and alleyways making his way back to the abandoned building. When he got there he did not like what he saw, the young girl was being dragged out of the house by some locals, and they were holding pitchforks and clubs.
"Here's one of the little brats that have been stealing from our carts! Let's teach her a lesson and run her out of town!" Koshou heard one of the villagers yell out.
"NO! Please! Let me go! I didn't steal anything; a boy gave this to me and took off!" The young girl yelled.
One of the villagers started to swing a club at her head but Koshou leaped and drove both his knees into the back of the villagers head, others were hit with various fruits and vegetables. Amidst the distraction Koshou grabbed the little girls hand and ran.
"There's the other one, get them both!" The villagers took off after the two.
"Just like a hero saving the day! You owe me one!" Koshou said turning down an alleyway.
"Owe you? It's your fault that they're after me in the first place!" The girl said, barely able to keep up with Koshou.
"Details, details…uh oh, should have taken a left." They were at a dead end, when they turned around, the villagers already blocked off the entrance.
Koshou turned to the girl and whispered, "When you see an opening, run."
The girl turned to Koshou and nodded, "I don't even know your name, I'm Hitomi."
Koshou turned to the girl, "I'm Koshou, now get ready." He turned back to the villagers, "Just remember, you guys started this."
He charged the group and started swinging; all of them were suddenly on top of him. Hitomi ran for the opening, she was just about to make it out when something grabbed one of her pigtails and yanked her back.
"OUCH!" Hitomi yelled. "Let me go!"
Koshou popped out of the pile of villagers and attempted to kick the one who held her hair, but he was backhanded against the wall.
"Koshou!" Hitomi yelled.
Then out of nowhere something slammed into the man who held her and drove him into the other wall.
"Leave them alone." The young boy who stood in front of Koshou was pretty big, brown hair and big brown eyes, and even though he was just a child he looked like he could break most of the villagers in half.
When Koshou got back up on his feet, he stood beside the boy, "Thanks for the assist, but I had them right where I wanted them."
"Sure you did what were you planning on doing next? Bleed all over them?" The boy said. He looked over to the girl, "You ok? I thought I told you stay hidden."
"It's his fault; he must have leaded them to where I was hiding!" Hitomi yelled.
"What? I didn't know anyone was following me, and some of them said they saw you steal some things also!" Koshou yelled back.
The villagers started to disperse, some of them mumbling about getting help, others looked like they would just rather let it go. The three kids cautiously made their way out of the alley.
Koshou turned and faced the new kid, "I'm Koshou, thanks for the help."
"I'm Yama, thanks for looking out for my sister." Yama stuck his hand out to Koshou; Koshou shook his hand and smiled.
"I guess I should thank you also, even though you started all of this." Hitomi said.
"They would have found you eventually; I thought I told you to never go to the market without me. If it wasn't for him, I'd have lost you." Yama said.
Hitomi stared down at the ground, "I'm sorry, I'm just tired of having to live like this."
Koshou watched the two exchange looks, and he wondered what it would be like to have a sister, or even a brother.
"Come on you two, my mom told me to bring Hitomi back with me; looks like you get to come along." Koshou said smiling a big grin while scratching the back of his head.
Present Konoha
"So that's how you met Yama? What happened to his sister?" Naruto said, checking the water drum to make sure all of the stuff they put in there was now delivered.
Koshou leaned his head back and sighed, "That's a totally other story, that girl is officially classified as a natural disaster in my life."
From inside the sounds of crashing and yelling started to ring from inside the building.
"WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED! I'M ORANGE!" One Jounin yelled.
"I'm orange and itching like mad all over!" another screamed.
Naruto looked over to Koshou, "Save it for later, our task is dome here, mission complete." Naruto grinned and gave Koshou a thumbs up.
They began to walk away from the building casually when suddenly…
"YOU!" they heard someone yell behind them.
Naruto and Koshou turned around and faced the person, who yelled, four Jounin, orange from head to toe, each covered only in towel and scratching all over.
At first they just stared blankly at the Jounin for a few seconds and then just busted out laughing, tears flowing from their eyes. People passing by either averted their eyes or stared in shock. The Jounins trembled with anger and shame, until they charged at Naruto and Koshou screaming in rage at the top of their lungs.
"Run." Naruto said grabbing Koshou by the collar of his jacket and dragging him along.
Down the streets of Konoha, Naruto ran dragging Koshou along, Koshou still laughing with tears in his eyes flapping in the wind like a rag doll.
Naruto turned a corner then he and Koshou both yelled, "Henge!" Smoke exploded from around the corner.
"A henge and some smoke bombs won't save either of you!" one of the Jounin yelled.
When they turned the corner and made their way through the smoke, to their horror they were in the middle of town at the square, and coincidences have it, there was a festival going on. In complete shock they glanced around looking for the two who lead them here only to see two young girls in front of them, one was a blonde with pig-tails wearing an orange kimono, the other was wearing a red kimono and long black hair.
"Someone help us!" The young blonde said "These men have been chasing us all over town!" The young blonde started to shed huge tears and turned away from the Jounins.
"Won't anyone save us? These orange freaks with nothing but towels on, keep trying to grope us! We're just innocent young girls trying to enjoy a peaceful night at the festival!" the black haired girl said tears streaming from her eyes.
Naruto whispered to Koshou, "Laying on a little thick?"
Koshou hid his face with one of his sleeves, "Nah, gotta go for the dramatic effect."
"I'll save you!" someone yelled from crowd, out of nowhere Gai charged the Jounins and wiped out them out with a whirlwind spin-kick, sending them crashing into nearby restaurant cart, where the special of the day was hot and sour soup and various other things that required hot grease…Oh the agony.
Naruto and Koshou just kept laughing until they felt a very strong killer intent behind them. Before they could do anything someone grabbed them both by the neck and squeezed. The henge dissipated and neither one could breathe.
Naruto turned his head around enough to see a very enraged Tsunade growling at them.
"Hey, Baa-chan… what do you think of the entertainment Koshou and I set up for tonight?" Naruto said with his trade mark grin.
The vain bulging out of Tsunade's forehead became even more pronounced.
"I swear by all that's holy you two are related, now I have twice as much of a pain in the neck to deal with!" Tsunade said through grinding teeth.
"You know Godaime, grinding your teeth like that could lead to problems when you reach you senior years." Koshou said with gasps of air.
"Neh, neh, Koshou, she's already a senior citizen, in fact she outranks them all here probably. She uses a henge to hide her true age." Naruto not so quietly whispered to Koshou.
Koshou stared wide eyed at Tsunade, "Really? Can't blame you I guess, probably like some dried up mummy don't ya?"
BOOOOM! The explosion was rumored to be heard in the County of the Sand.
Both Naruto and Koshou ended up embedded in a nearby wall. Tsunade marched over to the both of them, eyes glowing red, and teeth sharp and pointy.
"That's it, you two in my office now, I was going to settle this tomorrow, but now I have to know if you two little monsters are related or not!" Tsunade grabbed them by the ankles and dragged them to the Hokage Tower, like a predator who has latched on to her prey grinning evilly.
Hokage Tower
Tsunade rolled out a scroll on the floor of her office stating at each end various symbols were written in a line leading to a large kanji character surrounded by a ring of other small symbols. The kanji read something close to analyze and was in red.
"Probably blood." Koshou thought
"Ok, here is what I both want you to do, bite you thumb for a little blood then form the seals monkey, boar, snake, tiger, dragon. Then slam your hand on the edge of the scroll, Naruto, you on one end, and Koshou on the other." Tsunade explained.
Koshou and Naruto did as they were told and when the slammed their hands on the parchment, chakra flowed along the symbols to the circle in the center. The center symbol glowed then change shape.
Koshou glanced at the symbol and then at Tsunade, "So what's the verdict?"
Naruto stared intently at Tsunade; Tsunade turned to him and smiled.
"Naruto, say hello to your brother." She said.
Naruto and Koshou grinned huge grins at each other, and then turned to Tsunade.
"Thanks, Baaaa-Chan!" both of them yelled
"Kami, now I get to hear it twice as loud…where's my sake."
"All right! Let the party begin!" Koshou yelled.
Tsunade grinned and grabbed both of them by the collar
Outside Yama and Hinata were about to walk into the tower to look for Naruto and Koshou when they heard a crash over head.
They spotted two figures flying out the window and over a building across the street.
"Well that settles it I guess." Yama said.
Hinata glanced at Yama with a questioning look
He smiled and said, "They're family."
Next time
What are the Chunnin Exams?