And the moment the thought finally managed to sink into his shock numbed mind, Asuma picked Naru up and sort of gave her a hug. Or at least it would have been a hug...if not for the fact that Asuma looked frightened out of his mind as he stared down at Naru. Taking in her violet eyes, and her ivory skin, and her blond hair. And unless Sarutobi missed his guess- was looking for any traces of the younger brother he had lost so almost almost eight years ago.

Thank god, if Sarutobi's memory served him right, his late son had been fair haired and pale skinned like his mother and sister. And his former girlfriend had had violet-blue/lavender colored eyes and after a moment or so, Asuma seemed to 'see' traces of those characteristics in Naru that seemed to match up with his memory and smiled a little bit at the child before turning his full attention to Sarutobi and demanding in a hard tone that almost made the elder feel like the need to squirm like a child.

"Why wasn't I told that I had a possible niece the exact moment that you found out about her?"

The elder sighed tiredly and tried to think up a reasonable enough explanation before he bothered trying to speak to his son. "I didn't want to get your hopes up..." Seemed the most reasonable way to start before he then said, with no small amount of uncertainty. "I wasn't quite sure what I would find. Or what her family situation was. Whether she was being cared for or cast out. Whether she was healthy, or ill. Or if she had died on the day of her birth or shortly there after. I had to do research and gather as much information as possible to see if I would even be able to bring the child here."

Asuma studied him for a moment- as did the others still present- before his son made a low growling sound in the back of his throat and then huffed like he used to when he was a small child throwing a tantrum, and hugged Naru a little tighter and glared at his father before asking slowly. "Well now that she's here... Where is she staying? Is she in school yet?"

"She's been living with me-" Sarutobi started to say when Asuma gave him a glare so cold that he wondered if he was about to be challenged to a fight by his son when Asuma said,

"I've got room at my place for the little tyke. I'll take her for a bit before she learns something from you that she shouldn't." Sarutobi looked away so that his son and the others wouldn't notice the blush coloring his pale cheeks as he thought, Like what? The swearing? The killing? The random mischief? Too late for that crap- No if Asuma took Naru even for a little while at this point, despite his story about her being the man's niece, there was no way to hide certain aspects of her personality nor habits.

And that could spell trouble for the child.

"I'm sorry son. But Naru stays here. The tower is all that she knows-" I am all that she knows, Sarutobi thought as he started forward to take the girl when the troublesome child finally spoke up as she wrapped her arms around his son's neck and smiled,

"Aw, come on grandpa. Let him take me home for a little bit. I want to get to know my uncle." At which point Sarutobi froze and stared at the girl as if she had just grown another head as he tried to deny the girl, but wound up unable to speak. Which Naru apparently took as permission because she turned and looked back at his son and grinned as she said, "Well looks like I'm all yours." While the elder suddenly got the mental image of the village burning to the ground in the middle of the night and shivered as his son and the other shinobi disappeared- taking Naru with them.