Hello, everybody! Here I am, back from vacation, celebration of my birthday etc. I've got good news. I finally finished the this story (there will be the third part but as for this story..that's all). I'm really sorry it took so long to finish it. It just didn't felt right to finish it. Maybe it's the writer's block or how they call it…well, anyway it's finished now.

I want to say my greatest thanks to my beta-reader Phillipa Engles. You often praise me for my good English – and I have to officially announce that all this good English is thanks to her – she corrects all my mistakes. Only she knows how many of them I make (to my shame, I really need to take a grammar book and study).

I'd like to say thank you, all the readers, who inspired me with your reviews to continue the story. Usually if I give up writing the story. I leave it unfinished, but I just couldn't leave it this way with this story – not when I read all these wonderful reviews. I sit and bit by bit write it, chapter by chapter. It's really pleasant to write when you know somebody waits for this story, to know what happens next. I hope, I won't disappoint you.

Hyper Alchemist, looks like you won the bet, I finished the story ;)

Everybody who wants to do it, you are free to translate the story the language you want. Just let me know. I just wonder maybe one day it will be my native language :)

Well, that's all for today. I hope you'll have good time while reading the end of this story. As for the third part – I have already written the end of it (I don't understand, why endings are so easy to write while middle-story chapters sometimes are really pain.) As for the beginning and middle – I'll be working on them. As usual, I'm waiting for your reviews. Till the next time!

Chapter 12. When the new day came

FLASHBACK

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"How is your training with Taki going?" Arashi heard the voice somewhere behind his back and turned around.

"Hello, Umi," he nodded. The Mizukage looked perfect in her blue clothes – they made her eyes look even more blue than they really were.

"Not bad. He is fast learner," Arashi began.

"Why do I feel there's a 'but' in your words?" Umi raised her brows and smiled a little.

Arashi scratched his head.

"Yeah," he finally admitted. "He isn't stable. He scares me sometimes. He has too many emotions when he doesn't need them and lacks them when I think it's natural for him to feel. He isn't afraid of death at all. I don't think he is ready to be a jounin…mentally."

Umi turned around.

"The exam will show if he's ready or not," she whispered.

"But you feel the same way, don't you?" Arashi stepped forward a little to see her face again.

"I keep thinking of what I did wrong while raising him," Umi sighed unable to stand the piercing sight of the blue eyes of the blond Hokage. "The loss of our parents, it affected him terribly. I was lost and I couldn't be strong for him. It was my mistake."

"Nobody could be strong in such a situation," Arashi said. "Not you nor him. It's the way things are."

Umi wrapped her hands around herself like she was cold. Arashi felt a strong impulse to support her…somehow…anyhow…just to not see her so lost.

"I'll help him…you…with all I can," he promised.

She looked at him and small hint of smile appeared in her eyes.

"You really mean it," she whispered. "You are really a good man, Arashi," for a moment he felt a grip of her hand on his hand and then, at the next moment she just turned around and went away.

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Arashi opened his eyes and stared at the gates of the village of hidden mist.

"How long did I sleep?" he wondered. Nami was sitting next to him on a wide branch of the tree and looking at him whispered.

"The guards haven't changed yet. I sent Birdie to check up on the surroundings – no one has noticed us yet."

"Good," Arashi nodded. "When the guards change we must take our chance."

"It will happen soon," she whispered again.

"There are no more guards," the hoarse voice of Iri resounded near their ears. Arashi nearly lost his grip and fell in surprise upon hearing it.

"Easy," Nami growled helping him to keep his balance. "Acting like a pre-schooler, I can't believe it!"

"Sorry," Arashi quickly whispered back. "Look, they are changing!"

"Great!" Nami smiled and whispered.

"Iri, you know what to do."

The bird nodded and left her shoulder.

"What is he going to do?" Arashi wondered.

"Just look," Nami continued to smile. "It's a trick from my childhood."

Arashi made himself as comfortable as possible on his branch and watched the scene which promised to be interesting.

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"Hello, guys!" two hidden mist shinobies greeted another two ready to finally leave their post. "How was the night?"

"Everything is quiet," one of the quards anwered.

"Perfect," the first one nodded. "Go, have a rest."

"Hey!" the eyes of the other doubled in size. He pointed his hand at his companion.

"What?" the second asked.

"There…there is a huge crow over your head!"

"Crow?" he asked and turned around to see nothing.

"Up, look up!" the first one said and finally the guard shinobi saw the big, black bird flying just above his head.

"Fly away, you, dirty bird!" he growled trying to hit it with kunai.

The crow easily avoided the attack and sat on his head. One second – and his forehead protector was in the bird's claws.

"Give it to me!" he shouted jumping as high as possible trying to retreive his precious armor while the other shinobies were laughing out loud watching the scene.

"You, blockheads, help me already!" he shouted, out of breath breaking into a run after the bird.

His companions looked at each other, smiled and moved to his side.

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"That's our chance," Nami muttered and she and Arashi moved in an instant to the gates. Another moment – and they disappeared into the crowd. Somewhere behind them, two shinobies lay on the ground – they followed the crow so fast that they didn't notice the pile of stones in their path – the stones Nami hid with her jutsu - and another two continued shouting something really rude about birds in general and crows in particular.

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Naruto went out of the house and breathed out the air of Mist village. The roads were crowded with people. Everybody was going about their business and nobody paid attention to the blond boy with claw-like scars on his cheeks.

Naruto smiled. It felt much better than cold eyes of the villagers of Hidden Leaf who were afraid of him like hell. The man who called himself his father – he still called him that in his head – wasn't home when he woke up. Probably he went to his office – Naruto eyed the large white stone building at the other part of the village. It was so big that it was easy to notice it from any part of the village.

He had breakfast at a ramen restaurant not far from his house – it reminded him of Ichiraku's a little, but only with its appearance – the moment Naruto tasted the ramen here he understood that the ramen of Konoha's old man couldn't be compared with anything.

"Here is the money," he gave the owner the payment but old man just smiled and refused.

"The Mizukage's" son shouldn't pay for anything," he told Naruto.

"You know who I am?" Naruto made wide eyes.

"The village isn't that big. The news spread around in a moment," the owner smiled again.

"I see," Naruto sat with uncertain look in his eyes. One part of him shouted.

"That's great, let's order more!" but suddenly he felt it completely impossible to do. It just felt…wrong. Nobody gave him anything just because he was somebody's relative. Everything he received in his life was for his deeds so receiving something for free…he didn't like this feeling. So he thanked the owner and went out.

It looked like the news really started to spread out because Naruto caught people's eyes on him much more than before. Moreover, some girls about his age started whispering staring at him, running after him and laughing. Naruto felt uneasy. Never in his life he could even imagine that the day will come he'll understand what felt Sasuke when all the girls from the village were running after him. Lukily, no one of them tried to speak to him.

Completely tired of people's attention Naruto did what he always did – he went towards the forest at the southern part of the village and found training grounds.

"Finally, something useful!" blond genin smiled. "Training sounds good."

He already moved his hands into familiar gesture when he felt danger in the air. He turned around just in time – a bunch of shurikens stuck in the branch of a tree just at the level his head had been one moment ago.

Naruto backed up, preparing his kunai, and moved it to clash it with his opponent's weapon, staring into the dark eyes of the girl about ten years old.

"If you are aiming for the title of Mizukage prepare to fight with me!" the girl exclaimed trying to kick him. Naruto easily avoided the attack and caught her hands.

"Why in the world would I want to receive the title of Mizukage?" he asked in wonder.

"Everybody in the village keeps saying that," the girl lowered her head with dark shining hair. "That the Mizukage's son has returned and he'll be the next Mizukage. But it's my place! My mom is Mizukage!"

Naruto released her hands and scratched his head trying to understand the situation.

"So, there are two Kages in this village?" he finally understood.

"Yes. My mother and your dad," the girl nodded.

Naruto nodded too, the words "your dad" strangely resounding into his head.

"So," she looked at him again. "Do you want to become mizukage?"

"No…I think," Naruto answered uneasily. Really, what was he going to do with his life now? He wanted to become Hokage and now it appeared that his parents were from Hidden Mist so his place to live was here, away from his friends, his dream to become hokage.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked. "You look lost."

Naruto sighed. It wasn't only the look, he felt lost. He needed to talk with this man now.

"Sorry, I need to go," he apologized and quickly disappeared from the training grounds.

"Strange boy," dark haired girl concluded and aimed her kunai at the next pole.

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Naruto reached his house as sun decided to settle down to sleep behind the sea. He wasn't allowed to enter the mizukage's office.

"We know, you are Taki-sama's son but the rules are for everyone – nobody is allowed to enter here without top priority business."

Naruto wanted to act like he always did in Tsunade's office when he wasn't allowed to enter but suddenly stopped remembering it wasn't his village. It wasn't his home.

"What am I doing here?" he wondered for the one hundredth time in a day while watching the last rays of the sun disappearing in the sea.

There was still nobody at the house.

"Strange," Naruto thought. "Maybe he works all the night?" He studied the house. Almost all the doors were locked except for his room, kitchen and bathroom. Naruto rememebered Arashi's house – the one without closed doors and locks.

"The blond hokage – where is he now?" Naruto wondered. "Maybe he received Taki's message and has already left for home."

Home…He sighed. Here he said it once more. He called Konoha his home. It was the only truth. Konoha was his home and this village…wasn't.

Thinking too much Naruto didn't notice a small table downstairs and bumped into it.

"Aww! Stupid table!" he kicked the furniture one more time.

A photo falling from it caught Naruto into strange sence of déjà vu. He caught it without problem and stared at the familiar face and almost dropped it in surprise. Here she was again, the beautiful girl with black hair and shiny ice eyes.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" a voice behind his back almost made Naruto jump out of his skin.

He turned around to find mizukage of this village smiling at him.

Naruto nodded and put the photo in its place.

"Who is she?" he asked.

"My sister," now the man who called himself his father looked sad. Naruto examined him in surprise – he almost looked like Yondaime when he was talking about his wife. His wife…Something clicked into Naruto's mind.

"Nami's cousin…your sister…Yondaime's wife," he said in disbelief.

The same person. It looked like all the misteries of the past turned around one person…this girl.

"Umi…was her name," Taki whispered still looking at the photo.

"Umi," Naruto repeated. "So…you and Yondaime…you are the one family…"

He didn't have a chance to finish the sentence. Taki interrupted him in an instance.

"Don't say his name under this roof anymore! It's a forbidden topic, understood?"

"But…why?" Naruto shouted. "He is a good person!"

Taki turned his face to him amd Naruto shuddered. He looked…very, very scary.

"'Cause I told you so!" Taki growled. "I am your father and it's my right to decide who is good and who is bad."

Naruto bit his lip trying not to say anything rude. Maybe he was his father but he didn't allow anybody to talk to him like this.

It looked like he had found another reason why he didn't like being here.

Taki opened his mouth to say something else but suddenly stopped. Blue eyes so much alike Umi's looked at him with such a pain that he slapped himself mentally.

"I'm sorry," he sighed trying to sound friendlier. "Arashi…wasn't welcomed in out family; it's still a painful topic," he confessed. "Let's talk about it another time. Agree?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded and went upstairs. He didn't trust this man and this feeling became stronger with every minute. He had to lay low and think up a plan.

The first stars appeared behind his window and Naruto started to fall into a dreamless sleep. Suddenly he felt like somebody was banging into his window. He jumped prepaing for an attack but saw nobody. Naruto sighed with relief and had returned to his bedside when the knocking continued. The blond genin turned around and opened his mouth in surprise – the familiar big white bird was sitting near his window.

"Iri!" Naruto shouted in surprise and opened the window immediately.

"Not so loud, kiddo," he heard a woman's voice. Nami climbed inside his room. "We aren't welcomed here," she explained.

"You are…" Naruto started but his attention fell to the window where another figure had just appeared.

"Blondaime!" he whispered loudly.

Arashi was sitting at the window, his hair was a mess. It looked like he hand't slept well but his wide smile hid all these things.

"Thank all the powers," he whispered. "You are ok. Come on, let's get out of here!"

"But," the blond haired ninja stopped in his tracks. "If he is my father…this village is my home. It's foolish to run away from here."

Arashi's face became sad.

"It's not true, Naruto," he said solemnly. "Everything this man told you…it was a lie. He is not your father and it's not your home."

Naruto shook his head in despair trying to understand, trying to make the situation more stable. The world was crashing down around him once again and he could do nothing to stop it. A sudden thought came into his head.

"If you can tell me that Mizukage is not my father then you should know my father's true name," piercing blue eyes stared at Arashi.

Hokage's face turned into grimace.

"Please, not here, not now," he prayed to someone.

Fate heard him once again.

"I've been waiting for you, Fourth," a rude man's voice pierced through the darkness.

Arashi raised his head.

"Taki," his voice didn't contain any strong emotion, only recognition.

A cold kunai met his neck.

"It's pleasure finally to see you in person," Taki whispered, coming closer.

Arashi closed his eyes for a moment then spoke.

"My conditions are the same. Naruto is Konoha's shinobi. He will live in Konoha."

"Maybe he should know more about his family?" Taki whispered. "The boy is old enough, don't you think, Yondaime?"

"To know what?" Naruto asked looking at the scene with fear. He had the feeling the next words he would hear would crush his world completely.

"The truth is…" Taki began but never continued.

Yellow flash flickered in the night and two figures flew down the sea.

"Yondaime!" Naruto cried watching the flight that lasted seconds. Splash of the water – and everything disappeared.

Blond genin rushed to the exit almost knocking down Nami standing on his way.

"Naruto!" she caught him.

"Yondaime..." he breathed out. "Mizukage…We must hurry!" and ran down the stairs. Nami ran after him.