Chapter 12
A/N: Welcome back to Blood is Thicker! Hope you all haven't been missing this too badly! I had a few AP exams and preparations keeping me busy so all apologies, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Semerald777: Thanks for the compliment! And how nice to meet a kindred spirit, haha i felt good about the ap world test though.
Minato Namikaze Uzumaki: Why thank you!
Stallion6: True! That can get confusing!
Death by manga: Why thanks for your interest!
SuomiTytt: I'm glad somebody liked Sakura having a family! I got a lot of flack for that, especially the twin. But yeah, we'll see them again don't worry.
Naruto sat impatiently in Nakina's waiting area, fiddling with a loose string on his pants. Loudly sighing, he looked towards Nakina's secretary. She was younger than Shizune, and was quietly doing paperwork. She was dressed plainly, with a black skirt and purple blouse, complete with a matching ascot and sandals. The only thing that stood out were the gold earrings that hid behind her long bangs, and the matching hairpin holding her bun in place. Naruto grinned slightly. She had some sort of suitor.
Now the mystery that was staving of Naruto's boredom was who this suitor was. For this village, it was clear that he was rich, but for her to wear them publicly, he might not have been an important figure. While he was muddling this out in his head, a voice came on over the intercom.
"Fujie, send him in please."
The diminutive secretary nodded for Naruto to enter, and happily the boy jumped to his feet and scrambled into the office. The leader of Ryu appeared to not be surprised at his antics, and merely gestured for him to be seated.
"You remind me of that silly son of Eiji's, Kamenosuke. He's my late husband's little cousin."
Naruto nodded obligingly as the woman reminisced, carelessly brushing an orange bang out of her face, behind her ear. Before she got too far into the past, Naruto interjected. "If you don't mind, why am I here without my teammates? It seems pretty weird."
Nakina nodded. "I suppose I'll have to cut to the chase won't I?" She took a moment to collect herself, as Naruto pondered what could possibly be difficult for her to say.
"Listen, Naruto, I'll be blunt. Some of your father's clan lives in this village." Nakina looked into the eyes of the boy, seeing them open wide and his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Hesitantly, she pressed on. "They didn't know you survived, in fact, I'm not sure they knew you were here. They came here to escape persecution from Iwa, choosing to hide in their own backyard under a different clan name."
Silence permeated the room, and Nakina became somewhat nervous as she eyed the boy, who was looking at his interlocked hands. He looked at her, with a small, relieved grin. "Well," he said, scratching his head, "when can I meet them?"
The leader of Ryu was a little off put by the boy's reaction, but nonetheless stood and opened her office door to speak a moment to Fujie. Coming back, she sat down, saying "They are en route as we speak."
Naruto's grin seemed to grow broader, and Nakina could feel the excitement radiating off of him. "I'm surprised, Naruto, I would have thought you to be a tad more angry in such a situation."
Naruto's face fell a little, but he stayed resolute in his happiness. "For a long time, I hoped my parents would save me from the orphanage. I made my peace with them during the war, and if my relatives didn't know I survived, they must have missed me as much as I missed them."
Nakina nodded, but suddenly was startled by a knock at the door. Naruto immediately stood, and waited while the door opened at Nakina's command. Barging in was a rambunctious 12 year old boy with gold hair and amber eyes, followed by a teenage girl, approximately 15 with rather voluminous curly hair in a blondish-light orange color, framing blue eyes.
Nakina narrowed her eyes at the boy, "Where are your parents?"
The girl, a newly minted Chunin nervously stepped in. "Ah, Nakina-sama, they are just a little behind us, in fact here they come." She shifted so that a blue-eyed blonde middle aged woman was revealed, as well as a tall man with orange hair and brown eyes. The woman smiled politely at Nakina, before turning to take a look at Naruto. Naruto watched nervously as the woman gasped and covered her hand with her mouth, desperately clutching her husband's hand.
"You, you look just like my brother. Naruto I presume?" the woman said to him, her eyes, blue like his own, sparkling with tears. All he could do was nod slowly, feeling choked up. The lady immediately pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, as the rest of the family looked on with curiosity.
The woman wiped her eyes, saying "I'm your Aunt Mana, Minato's younger sister. This is my husband Yoichi, my daughter Yumiko and my son Mitsuo. They're your cousins."
Naruto looked at them, using his ninja training to pick up as much as he could about them. Yumiko seemed reserved and calm, while Mitsuo appeared to a bit of a spitfire looking his new cousin up and down.
"You're from Konoha?" Mitsuo asked, somewhat suspiciously. Naruto took off his headband, offering it to him, saying "Yeah, I'm a ninja there."
In a flash, the boy grabbed it and was examining it with a look of awe. Mana chuckled. "He is very interested in Konoha."
"Maybe you guys could visit sometime," Naruto offered awkwardly. "It's a nice place."
Mana nodded "It's been an awfully long time since I've been there. The children have never gone, and Yoichi was born here."
"I've heard they have a good medical program," Yumiko started a bit cautiously.
Naruto nodded vigorously. "My girlfriend Sakura is a pretty well-known medical ninja. Can't you train to be a medic here?"
The girl became a little sad. "They thought I was too old for an apprenticeship, and there is only one medic who specializes in training."
"You should come to Konoha!" Naruto said excitedly, before Nakina, who had been observing the awkward family reunion interjected. "Woah woah woah, let's not get carried away here. We're still negotiating things between our villages!"
Mana chuckled. "You're a lot like your mother Naruto. I admired Kushina a lot, she was like a sister to me."
Yoichi cleared his throat. "She was technically your sister-in-law." Mana simply rolled her eyes at her husband, before turning back to Naruto. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"
Ino rose her hand up nervously to the Haruno household door, took a deep breath, and finally knocked. After waiting a moment, Sakura's brother Toshiro came into view. He lazily glanced at her, saying "Oh hey. Haven't seen you around lately."
Ino stuck her tongue out at him, sarcastically quipping, "Don't you have an apartment?"
Toshiro opened the door. "Yeah, yeah I do, but the food is better here." Ino stepped in, and was pointed up the stairs by the older boy. Ino nodded in thanks, before heading to her best friend's bedroom. Sakura shared the room with Sayuri, but luckily Sayuri was out, likely spending time with her friends. Ino sat down on Sayuri's bed, and Sakura greeted her with a wave, not looking up from the book she was studying.
"What's up, Ino?"
Ino hesitated, which must have concerned the rosette, as she looked at her. Ino began to uncharacteristically stammer around an explanation. "Well, Kiba came to see me in my office...and well he apologized, and um...um it got a little heated and then...he uh, well kissed me."
Sakura shot up to a sitting position on her bed, clearly shocked. "He kissed you? I thought he was in love with Hinata?"
"Yeah, that's what I think, but all I did was tell him I knew how he felt and suddenly his eyes changed, and he touched my face, kissed me, and ran away!"
Sakura was dumbfounded and scratched her head. "Thats super weird! What did you do?"
Ino sank down onto the bed, blushing slightly just from the memory. "I just kinda reacted I suppose... It was over before I really actually thought anything of it. I think I was starting to kiss him back, oohhh what do I do, we don't even talk to each other, Sakura! He caught me once during the war and yelled at me about Sasuke and that's like, it!"
Sakura thought for a moment. "This is a difficult situation. His feelings for Hinata certainly complicate things, and you guys barely know each other. It wouldn't be right for him to use you as a rebound either since the engagement."
Ino rubbed her temples. "This is too much, and I can't stop thinking about it. For a dog, he kissed surprisingly well."
Sakura sighed. "I don't know what to tell you. You guys could discuss it, or he might try to avoid you if he's embarrassed."
Ino nodded sadly, not quite sure why she was so conflicted with this random kiss she got. It was certainly a rousing one, the tingles she felt were undeniable, but he didn't really know him that well. Of course they had always hung out in a large group together, and there was mild teasing between them, despite the awkwardness of him yelling at her a few months previous. The fact he didn't even like her didn't help the matter. The whole sordid affair made her feel both used and curious, and the Yamanaka yearned to know why this happened to her.
A/N: Sorry if the chapter was kinda short. I needed to get back into the swing of things and I hope to update more frequently from now on! Please keep reading, ad be sure to leave any comments, questions, suggestions etc in a review :) I'd surely love you forever if you did!
For anyone taking finals now or soon, good luck!
Til next time,
MyHikari