Hello, Everybody!
Chibi0Dragon, my best-ever beta-reader, thank you! You saved me again of the army of grammar errors and awfully words usage!
Reviewers, guys, thank you all! Every day when I come home tired and think that I won't be able to write even a sentence I see your wonderful reviews! So plot quickly begins to form in my head and everything is alright again thanks to you.
Some answers for the questions again
The common question – Naruto's mother…She's not Tsunade that I can say for sure. She is very special person :) but that's all I can say for now:)) You'll know a lot of her from the second part, I promise, the part of its plot is already hanging somewhere in my head.
Arashi-Naruto relationship. Well, it won't be easy for a long time. Some things will be easier for them to the end of this part but there will be the second…and the third :) The second one will be more lyrical (and I hope funnier at the same time). Hm, I'm talking too much about it I think. In the first part also there will be moments between them where there will be the feeling that one more step – and the truth will be revealed… but…I'm evil, isn't it?
Nameless – "and enemies outside the village? i think the only enemy arashi would ever face is orochimaru..." - I think the Hokage has a lot of enemies whose evil plans he destroyed and of course there are people who are just hate him because he's too strong for them to defeat. Well, that's only my opinion, of course.
Nyce456 – "The one thing that I would like answered is where did Yondamine go when he died?" – Actually I have written the dialog about that in one of the chapters but then I looked at it and deleted. I didn't like it; there were too much fun in it for such a serious matter. So I think I'll bring this topic in the other parts.
Tyer, Let Me Be, Spork or Foon – your ideas are very interesting! Thank you! I think I can use them in my plot to make it better :)
Dancing Kitsune – "will Sakura find out the connection between Arashi and Naruto?" – I don't really know. Maybe she'll find out but anyway it won't be soon.
" it seems more like its the Naruto from after he returns from the 1 & 1/2 year gap cause how you talk about how Naruto was reminded of Jaraiya when Arashi was looking his temper, and also how Sasuke was gone cause Naruto stayed around Konoha only enough to heal before he left with Jaraiya again" - Well, that's because I took into consideration the fillers arc from anime which wasn't in manga. In this arc Naruto stays in Konoha much longer while Jiraiya is gone somewhere at his data gathering session :) So that's the time when my story takes place.
LD 1449 – there won't be yaoi, I promise. It will be general.
Well, that's all for now. Read the chapter and review! I hope I didn't make it too boring.
P.S. to MasterFranny – GIANT FORK NO JUTSU – scaaaryy…(went to invent some counter-jutsu).
Chapter 5. The Village of the Hidden Moon.
"Let's give it another try," Arashi offered after a few minutes of waiting.
"But it's dangerous!" Sakura hesitated. "What if they appear again?"
"Trust me they won't," he smiled tiredly. "It was just a warning after all. Go to the festival, enjoy yourselves but don't try not to be nosey– that's what they said. Come on, follow me."
Naruto didn't say a word.
"What's wrong with him?" Arashi's mind screamed, but all he could do was to go straight ahead and perform the jutsu.
"Yes, this is the place," he thought as he stopped in the middle of the lake. The Hokage preformed the jutsu again, and exclaimed,
"Tsuki no hikari jutsu," he waited for a moment and added. "Entrance!" His hands caught the moon's light like it was a thread and drew a door. A second after that it changed to a silver colour, he stepped forward, and gestured to the others.
"Come on," he said.
"Whoa!" Naruto whistled when a second later they were standing in front of the real gates of The Hidden Moon.
Arashi smiled. Even if Naruto was angry with him, he was impressed now. That was good.
"It has been a long time, Arashi," he heard familiar voice and turned around.
"Sora!" he smiled, looking at his elderly friend. The once black hair of the village chief was beginning to turn silver, and there were a couple of wrinkles near his eyes, but it suited him. In some ways his sharp features gave him the appearance of a hawk, but there there was something about his smile that made people feel comfortable around him.
"So the rumors were true after all," he shook his head somewhat unbelieving "Konoha's Yellow flash is back."
"Looks like it," Arashi nodded.
"I'm so glad," the village chief's sigh was full of happiness. "Without you, Arashi, the world was too simple and dull."
The yondaime smiled back.
"It's wonderful to see that you're alright, and the same as I remember," he said.
"I see that your trip wasn't exactly safe. You are hurt," Sora looked at him attentively.
"Am I?" Arashi looked in the direction Sora gestured, and saw a small slice wound above his elbow. "I didn't notice."
"So he was able to wound me," his mind went back to the battle.
He had risen his hand to protect Naruto, and then dodged the attack, but his opponent's kunai had sliced the skin anyhow.
Blood… For a moment he was lost in his memories. How long ago had it been when he was last wounded? 13 years since that awful night…Blood, so he was alive after all.
"Arashi," Sora's words awakened him from his thoughts.
"Ah, sorry," he answered. "It's just a scratch. Maybe it was a tree branch." His look was pretty obvious to Naruto and Sakura though. 'You guys better not say anything,'
He couldn't read Sora's expression, but it s seemed as if the older man didn't believe him.
"Who are your companions?" Sora voice sounded as if nothing had happened.
They started to walk to his house.
"Oh, sorry," Arashi said again. "Let me introduce Konoha's genins, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto."
Sora turned his head and gave Arashi a strange look. Well, it looked strange to Sakura. Naruto didn't notice anything. Actually he was lost in thought.
"Who the hell were those masked shinobi? Why had they attacked them so suddenly, and leave just as fast? And most importantly why had he overreacted over the Yondaime's actions?"
"Naruto," Sakura whispered letting the Hokage and the village chief to go on ahead.
"Sakura-chan?" he raised his head.
"What are you doing?" she asked angrily. "The masked guy caught you in genjutsu, didn't he? Why did you scream at the Yondaime, who, might I add, saved your life?"
Naruto sighed. It was true. He wanted to believe that he would have been able to handle the masked guy on his own, but that would have been a lie. 'Blondaime…he saved me… dammit' he thought much to his displeasure.
Sakura on the other hand, couldn't understand where Konoha's loudest ninja was? The boy standing in front of her was gloomy and silent… more like Sasuke than himself.
"Sakura-chan," his smile was sad but then he sighed and exclaimed:
"I just don't like having a rival like that! That's all. How in the world can I expect to become the next Hokage when there are already two of them!"
'Nice try,' Sakura thought. 'But there is something more to your actions. Why do you hate him so much, Naruto?'
"Well, this is my house," Sora's voice ended their discussion.
"Whoa, it's huge!" Sakura was impressed.
"Yeah," village chief smiled. "Usually there are a lot of guest here so…"
"Father!" a dark-haired boy appeared in the room.
"He and Sora looked alike a lot," Arashi admitted to himself. The younger one was in his 18th year, and was rather tall and good-looking.
"Shinjiru," Sora said. "This is my friend from Konoha, Arashi…" Yondaime's cough stopped him mid-sentence.
"I'm sorry," the blond-haired man apologized a second later. "I had something in my throat. Maybe I've caught a cold." Sakura gave him an odd look. "I'm Arashi, a jounin from The Leaf, and this is my team, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto."
"Nice to meet you," Shinjiru smiled. "Welcome to our village. Dinner is ready, would you like to join us?"
"Of course!" Naruto shouted. He only understood at that moment just how hungry he was.
Arashi and Sakura smiled. Naruto was hungry as usual –the world wasn't going to collapse in on it's self after all.
"…and that's how it happened," Arashi finished their story, and sipped some tea. He and Sora were talking in the dinning room.
The village chief looked at him thoughtfully.
"You look a lot alike, you know," he said.
"Don't say that," Arashi laughed. "He's noisy and stubborn."
"Brave and strong," Sora added. "They say he helped a lot in saving Konoha during The Chuunin Exams. He fought with Shukaku of the Sand, and won. It reminds me about your famous fight with…"
"Don't you start again," Arashi complained. "I was lucky that's all."
"But they gave you the title of Hokage after that."
Arashi rolled his eyes.
"That was a wonderful time," Sora sighed. "Do you remember how Umi.." he trailed off.
Yondaime's face became sad.
"You know that that's not a forbidden topic," he said in a small voice.
"I understand," Sora squeezed his shoulder. "But what a wonderful family you could be!"
"Could have been," Arashi whispered, looking in his cup. "What about your son?" he tried to make the topic a little easier. "He looks like a strong shinobi. Is he jounin already?"
"Chuunin actually," Sora corrected. "His problem is that he sometimes lacks confidence, but he's special. I believe one day he'll become the chief of our village."
"Like father like son," Arashi smiled.
"What about Naruto?" Sora asked. "Your face became a little green when I tried to introduce you as Uzumaki."
"He doesn't like me much," Arashi confessed. "So I think that it would be painful for him if he knew the truth about his father."
"Well, it's not an everyday thing for someone to learn that his father is the Hokage," Sora laughed. "I can see the problem."
"You can't," Arashi shook his head. "You didn't seal a monster in your own son, and didn't die and leave him all alone. Actually I thought that if we completed the mission together everything would be alright, but I was wrong. Now I see that making him part of my team was a big mistake."
"What are you talking about?" Sora stared at him. "He's your son dammit!"
"He acts recklessly because I'm on the team," Arashi explained. "I can't predict what he'll do next, and that makes it hard to think clearly about the mission. All I can think about is him, and how I can prevent him from getting hurt. It's dangerous for the both of us, so I would rather him be on another team than dead."
Sora shook his head.
"I wish that Umi were here," he told him in a low voice. "She would kick your sorry ass all along this village for saying such a foolish thing."
"I wish that she were here too," Arashi sighed. "She would know what to do."
"If you step aside you'll regret it, Arashi," Sora said. "You were given another chance at life. Don't throw it away. Talk to him, do something."
The blond Hokage didn't answer but by looking at the man's face, Sora knew that his friend agreed with him.
Naruto jumped and threw a few kunai. The second one followed perfectly behind the first. His aim was to get all of them in the center of the target, and he succeeded rather easily. The blond genin smiled. The training spot Shinjiru showed him was perfect.
He bit his lip while pulling out the next couple of kunai. Now it was time for the most difficult task. The one that he couldn't seem to accomplish no matter how hard he tried. It was Sasuke's move. A perfect jump and timing was required to throw the kunai so that one would strike the other and redirect it towards the center of the target.
Naruto sighed. Sure, it sounded easy in theory, but when it came to actually doing it…that was a whole other matter. This time, the kunai didn't meet at all. It was just like his previous tries. Uzumaki finished his jump and went to pick them up.
Arashi watched his training attentively. 'The boy was talented and stubborn,' he admitted. 'But the Uchiha's move wasn't something that he could learn in week. Especially when he was holding the kunai improperly. Anyway it is a good moment for a talk,' he thought gathering up all of his courage.
"Time for another try!" Naruto exclaimed while preparing to jump.
Arashi made a step forward then stopped. He couldn't, he just couldn't do it.
"Dammit," he cursed to himself.
"Naruto!" Sora's dark-haired son went over to the blond.
Yondaime sighed desperately. The moment was lost. He looked at Naruto who was discussing something with Shinjiru and smiled.
"Next time," he promised to himself. "I'll do it."
"Are you finished?" Shinjiru asked. "How about we go for a walk? I'll show you the village."
"That sounds great!" Naruto smiled.
"Come on then," The boy offered and walked along the road. Naruto followed him.
"Ohayou!" Sakura greeted everyone sitting at the table. "Where's Naruto?" she asked when she didn't see the familiar orange disaster.
"Shinjiru is showing him the village," Sora explained. "We'll do the same after breakfast."
"Oh," she said. "I see."
"Our village isn't as big as Konoha, is it?" Shinjiru asked as they walked along a beautiful street. Flowers were everywhere. It looked like the villagers loved their homeland a lot.
"Yeah, Konoha is bigger," Naruto agreed. "But I like your village. It's…so peaceful here. Do you accomplish a lot of missions?"
"17," Shinjiru smiled. "C and D mostly but I participated in two B-missions. It's pretty great isn't it?"
"Y…yeah," The genin with one of the most impressive mission records among his rank answered.
"What about you, Naruto?" the dark-haired boy asked.
"Well," Uzumaki hesitated. "Mostly D, yes, D missions," he lied. Shinjiru was so proud about his B-rank missions that he couldn't disappoint him by telling the truth about his own record.
"I see," the village chief's son said. Was it just him, or did his guide's words seem sad for a moment. "Are they afraid to give you serious missions because they think that you'll get hurt or…" he was interrupted mid-sentence as a thunder of brown haired boys ran into them.
"Shinjiru, it's been a long time!" the shorter one smiled.
"Kumo, Tetsu!" Shinjiru shouted with joy.
"I see you have a company," the other one nodded at Naruto.
"Yes," Shinjiru answered. "Naruto, these are my friends. We were on a team together once."
"Were?" Naruto was surprised.
"Everyone went their own way," Shinjiru explained. "Kumo is chief of the medic team now now, and Tetsu works as ANBU. As for me… I'm not as talented, so I'm just a chuunin."
Now, Naruto definitely felt sadness in his words.
"Don't complain," Kumo smiled. "Next year you'll pass the jounin exams, and everything will be great!"
"Naruto, are you one of the guests from Konoha that Sora-sama was talking about?" Tetsu asked.
"Yeah," Naruto smiled. "I haven't seen an ANBU without his mask before in my whole life! Is it a difficult job?"
"Oh my, he's impressed!" Kumo laughed turning to Tetsu. "Maybe you should take Naruto in on his squad, oh gloomy one?"
Tetsu looked at Naruto while calculating something.
"Well, maybe he should try," Naruto couldn't tell if he was joking, or if he was serious. "I think he has potential."
Naruto blushed. It was great praise for him. "Maybe I should really try this way of his career in Konoha," he wondered.
While they were talking people began to appear in the streets. Naruto smiled at a group of kids who were running to the school, but something was wrong. Was it just him, or did it have a similar feel to walking down Konoha's streets? The villagers looked at him curiously. Was it fear in their eyes? How could they know?
"No," suddenly he realized that they weren't looking at him … but then who was it? Who of these three was the reason for the looks, and why?
"Naruto!" he heard familiar voice, and in a moment all previous thoughts had disappeared.
"Sakura-chan! Ohayou!" he shouted seeing the group consisting of the pink haired girl, the blond Hokage, and village chief.
"Shinjiru, here is your mission," Sora gave his son a scroll.
"Oh, this is great!" Shinjiru opened it and sighed. " 'C' again. Why in the world should I…"
"Go already," his father ushered him. "No matter what rank it is, it still requires immediate business."
"Ok," Shinjiru sighed again. "See you later. Nice talking to you!" and with that he disappeared.
"We'll go too then," Kumo and Tetsu said. "Have a nice day!" and they disappeared as well.
"Let's keep walking," Sora offered. "I'll show you the training area, and the place where the exams are to take place."
"So here we are," a few hours passed and they came to a big arena. "Most of the work has been done already, but the workers are still in the process of changing the landscape." Sora explained.
They went inside the arena where the genin fights were about to take place.
"Tomorrow will be the first match," Sora continued.
For a moment Naruto was lost in his memories. The chuunin exams…it seemed like a century had passed since then. How much had happened after that? The Sound's assault, the third's death, the appearance of the Akatsuki, Sasuke…
He looked at Sakura. She was in a similar state. What was she remembering now? Naruto wondered. "Was it her own failure, or maybe it was their first meeting with Orochimaru, after which everything went wrong?"
He breathed a supportive smile at her. At least one person here understood him completely, and it felt good.
Arashi kept watching them. Sakura's story didn't explain much, but now he could at least understand their feelings a little better – he was sure that now, they were thinking about the same things.
His eyes wandered along the arena remembering…
FLASHBACK
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"You're too weak, Arashi-kun!" the taller boy exclaimed. "You can't win this fight! Give up already, so you won't end up in the hospital like last time!"
The blond boy's face was covered with cuts and bruises, but after gathering all the power that he had left, he stood up and shouted.
"I won't lose. You'll see! I'll become a chuunin no matter what!"
"Like you can, baka!" his opponent laughed.
"Actually," Arashi's smile appeared on his worn out face, and became steadily wider. "Actually all this talk was only to distract you. Now feel the strength of my," his clone's hand appeared out of the earth and clasped his opponent's legs. "Doton Shinjiuuzanshu no jutsu!"
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"…And a lot of people have already arrived. Are you listening, Arashi?" Sora's voice snapped him out of his daydream.
"Oh, sorry," Arashi shook his head. "So…"
His words were interrupted by a loud crack from somewhere above them. A second later he realized what was happening.
"Run!" he shouted to the workers, who were in the path of crumbling stones from the arena.